The Phantoms of Phobos
by heketai
Summary: It's been a decade since the Second Titan-Olympian war, and demigods all finally beginning to settle in-until a new trouble arises. But this time, demigods are not the pawns of the Gods. /OC fanfict./
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 (Rosamynd)**

_Will you do it for me, Honey?_ Rosamynd gritted her teeth, battling the aching stitch on her side._ You have to get it there... promise me. It's too important of an issue to ignore. You must warn them._

_I will, dad. I promise. I'll do my duty._

Rosamynd ran, even as her legs were shaking. She struggled for air, looking for the nearest bus to Long Island. _Where is that bus terminus? I studied the map before I left. This is stupid. The mortal world is so confusing._ She caught sight of a bus stop. _About time. I hope this is the right one._

Rosamynd leapt up the last step, and was surprised to see a bus stand with eight mortals looking strangely at her. Trying not the smell that horrible odor, she felt her cheeks boil up as she nervously went to the nearest man to ask where this bus was going to.

"This bus? Why would you want to go on this bus?"

Taken back by surprise, Rosamynd pondered a simple "What do you mean?" which came out in a little whisper.

"I said, why would you want to go on this bus, Rosamynd Summers?"

Rosamynd Summers. Her name. Nobody called her Rosamynd Summers except for those who knew her being a goddess. Nobody but her friends- and enemies.

_Monsters._

But this was too early to be found- her scent couldn't be that easy to find? Could it?

As Rosamynd slowly reached for her dagger coiled upon her waist, she felt the rest of the demons slowly approach her, cornering her. Only one human stood oblivious to what was happening, blocked by the mist. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the rest of the demons change into scorpions, lions, beasts of all kinds. She changed her glance to the once a nice looking man, now a Minotaur grinning at her.

"I am here to avenge my FATHER!" As soon as he finished growling, Rosamynd took a lunge at him with her dagger, spraying golden blood all over the ground. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned around gratefully, in hope for help- but all she saw was the face of a scorpion. Just as the Scorpion dude was about to put a claw in her guts, she rolled over to the side. Vines started sprouting all over the other beast, tangling them into each other.

"When Theseus murdered my father, I knew at once I had to get my revenge and murder people of Theseus kind as well. So I started killing puny godlings like you" Alexandros roared, charging forward slicing her with his claws.

"Watch out!"

Rosamynd quickly sidestepped out of the way, focusing on the vines tangled around his legs. She instantly sliced the Minotaur on the chest, creating a deep cut, buying her some time. Wondering where the voice was from, she turned around to be greeted by Adrian, another godling. Rosamynd squinted upwards,catching a glimpse of Adrian's golden hair in the sunlight, his green eyes glinted with adrenaline.

"Hi Adria-"

"Watch out, Rosie!"

Rosamynd spun around to come face to stomach to the Minotaur.

"Think you can fool me, eh? You can't kill me by putting a sword in me, puny god. I am ALEXANDROS- ALEXANDROS THE GREAT!" The last few words came out in a shout, spraying spit into her face.

"Gross!" Rosamynd shrieked, glaring at Alexandros. She closed her eyes- in, out. In, out.

She charged forward and stuck her dagger into his stomach but it barely sunk into his flesh. She quickly yanked it out and dodged his swing. Concentrating to keep the vines wrapped around his ankles and shins. She kept trying to stab the Minotaur but Alexandros kept batting her away. She decided it was no use, she wasn't any good at combat fighting She concentrated, looking into herself and channeling her energy from nature around her. Her eyes shot open and a great cavern opened up underneath Alexandros. Some "great" monster.

Rosamynd turned around, impressed to see that while she was fighting Alexandros, Adrian had fought off the rest of the monsters, leaving most of them either dissolving into dust, or just gone. Once again she channelled her energy. Above the Minotaur, a massive tree dropped onto the hole. The monster shrieked and dissolved into dust.

"Yay!" She exclaimed, sharing a high-five with Adrian. This wasn't the first time she had fought a monster- she had fought many. But every time she won a fought, she would feel like the most powerful person.

"And still don't have a hair out of place" Adrian said.

"Thanks!"

"I was talking about myself."

"Jerk" Rosamynd as she playfully punched him on his arm. Grimacing, she tucked the stray strands of auburn hair from her face. "How did you know I was here anyway?"

"I didn't," Adrian shook his head. "I was heading towards Camp Half-Blood when I heard you - Which reminds me; you sure like screaming your head off." he smirked.

"Shut up," Rosamynd rolled her eyes, her pale face was slowly growing redder with each passing second.

"Just saying!" Adrian laughed. " So where you headed off to?"

"I'm actually going to Camp Half-Blood as well" She replied, as Adrian tucked his swords into his sheaths. "Just running a quick but important errand for father"

"Oh- so you're a messenger now?" Adrian asked curiously, keeping an eye out for other monsters.

"No, not really, father trusts me to deliver this top secret message!"

"Top secret, eh?"

"I don't know, okay? Gods!"

"Okay, okay." Adrian said, putting his hands up in a surrendering way. "Let's go on the bus, okay? That's how you're getting there right?"

"Yeah - were you about to walk there?" Adrian nodded "What's wrong with you?" Rosamynd said, laughing.

"Nothing. Just working those muscles" He said, showing her his biceps.

"What muscles?" Rosamynd joked.

"Hey-" Adrian started to say, but was cut of by the bus arriving. "Look- here's the bus coming now, let's get on, okay?"

"Sure."

As soon as they boarded the bus, Rosamynd whipped out her phone and called Lysandra, another godling. Usually phones were not allowed with godlings, but each godling had a phone for emergencies. As she talked, Adrian remained relatively quiet throughout the rest of the bus ride. They got off at the bottom of Camp Half-Blood Hill, an normal hill with nothing at the top in the sight of a human's eye. They thanked the driver, and got off the bus. As they got off, they scanned the area quickly, but there were no signs of monsters or mortals. No sign of any living thing in fact. There seemed to be a ton of noise coming from further away, nearer to the camp though.

As they walked up the hill in silent, Adrian mumbled something.

"What?"

"I said, what's the message Hermes asked you to send?" still quiet, but loud enough for her to hear.

"I honestly don't know" He glanced at her a questioning glance "Really- I don't! You heard me before, it's Top Secret!"

"Then how come your dad doesn't trust you with the message- why didn't he tell you?"

"I don't know!" she said again, for the millionth time. "He said he'll tell me when I go to Chiron- I guess he thinks either i'm not ready for the message, or maybe I might react strange if I hear the message now- I don't know. But all I know is that, he only trusts me to deliver it, he never said anything about reading the message or knowing what's its contents are. "

"Do you at least know what it's about?"

"Not at all, now let it go!" Suddenly, she was strangled by a hug.

"LYSANDRA!" Adrian and Rosamynd exclaimed in unison. Lysandra laughed, soon joined by them. She tossed her dirty-blonde hair aside, and smiled brightly at Rosamynd and Adrian.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Lys asked, digging through her bag.

"Well-" Started Rosamynd, before Adrian cut her off.

"Rosamyndhastodeliveramessage fromherdadandImetheralongthe wayandIreallyreallyNEEDTOPEE !" Adrian rushed, jumping up and down.

"Whoa, whoa whoa- Slow down! So Rosamynd's dad sent you message to give here, and - what? Why do I smell monster scent- have you two been fighting a monster lately?"

"Yes! Thats how Adrian found me- I was fighting the monster, and he came and helped."

"I NEED TO PEE!"

"You're a boy, just pee anywhere you'd like, just not anywhere near us!" Rosamynd said, turning to Adrian.

"Fine" He left the two girls gossiping to each other as he made his way towards the forest, not once thinking about the consequences.

~~~ END OF CHAPTER 1~~~


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2 (Lysandra)**_

Lysandra was giddy with excitement. Her childhood friend, Rosamynd was here! True, they met the first time when Rosamynd accidentally screwed up an iris message, but they became really good friends.

"Oh my gods! I still can't believe you're here!" Lysandra exclaimed. "So, anyways, about the message?"

"Oh yeah," Rosamynd frowned, "I guess I should take this to Chiron."

"I'll go with you!" Lysandra chimed in, which brightened Rosamynd's face considerably."We have loads to catch up on." They linked arms, with Rosamynd nodding earnestly and Lysandra talking everybody's ears off.

"So what's so important that you need to run from Manhattan all the way here?" Lysandra inquired.

"Well, I took a bus," Rosamynd muttered, "And I don't know what Hermes wanted to warn Chiron. Lately nobody tells me anything."

"Oh come one, brighten up!" Lys frowned, nudging her.

"Oi, stop it!" She said, laughing. "So, Lys, how are you?"

"I'm good" She blinked her brown eyes innocently. "How ab-" She was cut off by a scream. Adrian was running towards them, with a cybonic, vampiric demon behind him.

"An empousai!" screamed Lysandra

"No duh," Adrian sneered, "RUN!"

The godlings bolted desperately towards the borders, trying not to trip over the jutting rocks and roots.

"Ow-" Lysandra widened her eyes as Adrian cursed in Ancient Greek. Loud.

"Stop!" She screeched, turning around to face the small horde of monsters,"We have no choice but to face them- the borders are sealed. We can't get in until someone comes in and lets us."

"Stop being such a arse, Adrian," Rosamynd frowned, "Fight like a man."

They rushed in as one - monsters were exploding, ichor spilled on the golden-red stained grass.

"I permit godlings Lysandra Claw, Adrian Belikov and Rosamynd Summers to enter the grounds of Camp Half-Blood," A voice boomed out from the boundary on the crest of Half-Blood Hill. The fighters whirled around and sprinted towards the safety of camp.

As they reached the camp, Chiron came- more like galloped- towards them. "Lysandra, Adrian- please go to your cabins. I need to talk to Rosamynd." He announced.

"Our cabins- wait, we have cabins?"

"Oh, just come with me." Said Lysandra with a hint of annoyance in her tone, dragging a very tired and confused Adrian with her towards the cabins.

"So since I have two godly parents, which cabin do I go to?" Adrian asked. Lysandra looked at him with a deadpan expression, as if he was the dumbest person in the world. Maybe he was.

"Obviously, we're not going to camp. We're gonna sneak in and find out what they are talking about."

"Oh. Right." He replied warily.

Lysandra rolled her eyes, slinking between demi-gods in training, ,heading towards the big house. A few daughters of Aphrodite took one look at Adrian, and started giggling and whispering to one another. One even gave him a flirtatious wave. Adrian looked flustered and started to wave back, but was once again dragged away by Lysandra.

"Come on," She groaned, leaping up the stairs four at a time, leaving Adrian to chase after her.

"Where are we going?"

"Just come on! We're going to the roof so we can climb on the tree, and eavesdrop- okay?"

"Okay."

Lysandra nimbly climbed up the branches, leaving Adrian not-so-gracefully stumbling up after her.

"Can't we just listen at the door?- or you know, not eavesdrop? I'm hungry and tired- I wanna eat and sleep!"

"No! It's way too obvious." Clearly ignoring his other question.

Lysandra peered into the Big House's attic window, straining her keen cat-like  
ears, vaguely making out what Rosamynd was saying.

She heard footsteps making their way up the attic stairs. There was a third person. Who?

"I can hear Chiron" Lys whispered to Adrian "He's saying _"Rachel Elizabeth Dare. This is Rosamynd- she's the one with the prophecy."_

"The prophecy? What prophecy? That's the message?" Adrian looked as confused as ever.

"Shh! Not so loud. " Lysandra frowned at Adrian's direction, not willing to take her eyes off the three inside the room, "I think we're about to find out what the new prophecy is."

Lysandra's eyes widened as Rachel's eyes turned misty and unfocused. She opened her mouth, and a prophecy flowed out of her mouth,

_"Nine godlings must unite,_  
_and plunge into darkness and the night._  
_To face their own greatest fear,_  
_and lose a loved one they once held dear."_

Rachel briefly went back to normal, then her eyes rolled up to the top of her head. She collapsed, unconscious, with Chiron and Rosamynd catching her.

Lysandra gaped at Adrian, who responded with a simple "What?"

"Did you not just see what happened?"

"No- why? what?"

Lysandra sighed and recited the prophecy to him, and how Rachel fell, shuddering at her own words as she spoke.

"Wow," Adrian swallowed hard, his expression suddenly matching hers - equally terrified, "Who do you think this prophecy is about and what does it mean? I mean it mentioned 'nine godlings'. That could easily refer to anyone, including us."

"But we're only three godlings, Adrian. You, me and Rosamynd"

Lysandra sighed, pushing her hair fervently from her face. This was too much to process in one afternoon, maybe after a nice nap-

"Hey! What are you two doing up there?!" A voice yelled from below. Lysandra froze, unwilling to move. _Oops._ Very, very slowly, Lysandra and Adrian looked down from their tree.

And sighed in relief.

"Rosamynd! It's only you," Adrian laughed, sliding down the tree and landing on the ground with a thump. "We were afraid it was Chiron."

"Chiron's right next to me, stupid." Rosamynd huffed,while Adrian waved nervously at the centaur and Lysandra tried to offer him an apologetic smile. "And what do you mean you're scared it was him? You weren't scared it was me?"

"Uh.."Adrian frowned. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. Lysandra tutted silently as she watched his defence mechanism kick in."Well, you're not much to be scared of, are you? You're just a little girl."

Rosamynd gave him a deep frown, "Well, mister. You aren't much to by, for a man. Now who screams like a little girl?"

Adrian stuttered, turning red, "She took me by surprise, ok? We were just flirting, and then out of nowhere she just transformed into this donkey-robot hag thing. "

Chiron looked alarmed, " How did they figure out where the camp is? And monsters don't attack on groups, with other monsters. The last time that happened was..." He trailed off, clearly not inclined to finish the thought.

"The last time was when?" Adrian interrogated.

Lysandra nudged him and whispered, "He clearly doesn't want to talk about it. Show him some respect."

Chiron nodded gratefully at her, "I should leave you to your discussions. Have a nice stay." He trailed away, deep in thought.

****"Hey, at least he didn't get mad at us for eavesdropping," Adrian shrugged, earning whacks from the two godlings beside him.


	3. Chapter 3

Adrian was still clueless about all of this Prophecy stuff. It was all just too confusing for a simple brain like his to figure. Adrian collapsed onto one of the only five beds of cabin 16. He was exhausted. He had to fight not one, but two groups of ugly beasts in one day. And the burden of that weird prophecy was just too much of a burden. Sleep. He needs sleep. He sank into his nice, soft bed, ready to drift off to a pleasant nap-

"Oi!" A loud crash jolted him from his drowsiness. He opened his eyes blearily and sat up in a flash to reach for his duel swords on the floor next to him. Then he relaxed. _Oh, right. Camp Half-Blood. This is a camper. _He smiled embarrassingly at the person who spoken.

"Who are you?" the camper spoke in a fairly harsh tone, "Are you the new kid?"

Adrian nodded, shrugging inwardly, "So, uh, are you a child of Nemesis too?" He almost kicked himself. _Of course she was, stupid!_

"I was the _only_ child of Nemesis - well, until you came along. I'm Alli, by the way."

"Adrian."

"Well, you should know the rule of this cabin."

"There are no rules."

"There is now. Anyways, one. If you get up early, wake me up and I'll kill you. Two, try your best not to disturb me in anyway. Pleased to be your acquaintance, Adrian."

"Likewise," Adrian grimaced. He hates lying, but this was a necessity. "Oh, and don't be worried if I don't come back some nights. I sometimes stay in Ares' Cabin as well."

"Why would you-" Alli's eyes hardened, which made the godling flinch, "Oh. You're one of _them._ Man, I'm so sick of you people. Whatever, I'm out." And with that, Alli stormed away.

Adrian decided he hated her._ I mean, who judges people by what others have done? Nobody here even knows me. I'm sure they'll like me fine._ But it left him wondering why people at Camp Half-Blood could possibly hate this new generation of godlings.

Adrian slowly got up, forgetting about his nap. He needed to see the others. Now.

He hastily got up and changed out of his dirty clothes, put on some clean ones and slipped his swords back into their sheaths. He ran out of the cabin, trying to find the one person who would probably make sense to all this.

"Lys! Rosie!" He shouted as soon as he reached the sword practicing area. Both heads hastily turned around, smiled and gestured for Adrian to come join them. They were assessing the demigods on their sword combat skills.

"Guys! Why don't people appreciate 'Minor gods' anymore?"

"Whoa- what are you on about?" replied Rosamynd.

"I don't understand" He said furiously, shaking his head, "My new 'roomie' - Alex or something- she hates me! And only because i'm 'one of those people, you know, those who have two godly parents."

Adrian and Rosamynd both turned to look expectantly at Lysandra, hoping for an explanation. She shook her hair, huffed, then began.

"See, the thing is people worship two kinds of people- the gods, most importantly, and the demigods. Some people think the demigods are more powerful, even, since of a guy named 'Percy Jackson'- he refused to be immortal because of his undying love for his demigod girlfriend, Annabeth Chase. They always forget about our generation. Us minor godlings never are mentioned!" Adrian could see claws starting to rise out of Lysandra's hands. He knew what this meant- rage mode. " And ever since, they kinda resented us, because we have potential power that they don't, which causes them to think that we think they are inferior - the gods are ashamed of us, and the demigods are jealous."

Lysandra turned towards them, and Rosamynd put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey- it's alright. Adrian? You fine?"

"Yeah. Maybe." He whispered quietly. The godlings stayed silent for a long time.

"Wow," Adrian let out a long whistle, leaning back against the stands, "And to think I was gonna have a blast here - And the prophecy... What will they think of all this?"

Lysandra stared at the flickering bonfire a not too far away from them, "We are the new freaks. We will never belong. But they must be safe. I have no choice."

"Then I'll stay too," Rosamynd piped up firmly, "I'll prove them wrong."

They both turned to Adrian. He frowned, and faked a yawn, "I think I'm gonna crash for the night. This brain is running out of juice."

"Don't you mean ran out of juice?" Rosamynd smirked.

"Yeah, whatever." Adrian walked away, leaving two bewildered girls staring slack-jawed at him.

Adrian jogged off back to his cabin, secretly hoping Alli wasn't there. But of course, she was.

Without a word, Adrian silently slipped into his bed._ I can trust them, right?_ But all through the night, Adrian slept with a small dagger in his hand, only dozing off lightly, constantly on guard.

Someone was constantly tapping him on his shoulder, the voice was blurry but it sounded like someone was shouting in his ear.

"Adrian! Wake_ up_," The voice shouted. He suddenly felt hands on his shoulders, shaking him roughly.

"Wake up," The voice grew louder and more impatient. Adrian groaned and mumbled incoherently, turning away from the voice. There was suddenly a huge rush of icy sensations. It felt like a wave of raindrops was piercing his face.

"GAH!" Adrian jerked awake, almost cutting himself in the process. He quickly dropped his dagger beside him, and shook his head free of bleariness. He glared at the intruder, who turned out to be - surprise- Alli with Rosamynd standing in the corner, with a slightly alarmed expression on her face.

"Get up," She snarled and tossed another bucket of water on him, "Time for breakfast, a 'mighty' godling like you will need your strength."

Great. Usually, Adrian would have been thrilled for a meal at the famed celestial bronze dishes at the Camp Half-Blood dining hall, but everything else that was going on lately just about killed his mood.

He reluctantly sat up and shooed the girls away as he showered and changed. When he emerged from the cabin, he realized Alli had already left. Good.

"Well, uh, wheres Lys?" Adrian asked casually, feeling guilty about his small tantrum last night.

"Shes gone down to breakfast already," Rosamynd explained, offering a sad smile at him, "I'm the only one in my cabin, so I figured I'd wait for you."

"Wow lucky, you don't have a awful roommate like Alli," He rolled his eyes.

"Don't say that. You two barely know each other," Rosamynd desperately tried to play peacemaker between the feuding children of Nemesis.

"I know enough to wish I don't know her," Adrian countered, keeping his eyes on the cobblestoned pathways.

Breakfast sort of brightened up Adrian's mood, eating all those pancakes made him happy again. During breakfast most demigods eyed them suspiciously and curiously. Whatever they were doing, they were staring at the godlings. Adrian tried to ignore them, but it was kinda - impossible.

Alli was barely present - she was finishing her food when they came in. He had the whole table to himself, which was really just ten seats, although it seemed like it was much bigger. After an amazing breakfast he met up with Lysandra and Rosamynd outside the dining hall.

"Hey Adrian! How'd you sleep?" Lys asked, looking down not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Horribly, I really thought Alli was going to murder me in the middle of the night," Adrian sighed, "I hate this."

"Yeah," Rosamynd agreed solemnly.

"You know what? I'm sick and tired of this!" Lysandra exclaimed, "They have no right to treat us like this. Besides, we have more pressing issues to worry about. Like the prophecy, for example. In fact, we should talk about all this to someone. Who- Chiron? Mr. D"

"Mr. D?" asked Adrian.

"Let's head over there right now, we've got to solve this prophecy and figure what it means, it mentioned godlings so it could referring to anyone."

"Like a mystery!"

"Sure..." Lysandra replied.

They headed over to the Big House, and the whole camp was silent as they walked. Demigods staring at them, whispering silently to each godlings looked down as they walked towards the Big House, their footsteps seemingly echoing against the stone path.

They quickened their pace. By the time they reached the office, they were practically running. They swiftly entered the office, and peered in a digustingly fascinated manner.

"Ah, Andrew Belfield. I was wondering when you and your godling friends would stop by."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 (Rosamynd)**_

Rosamynd shyly followed Adrian and Lysandra, who stepped forward bravely. The man in front of her had on a loud leopard print Hawaiian shirt, with deep purple pants. She quickly looked away, eyes sore.

"It's Adrian Belikov, actually," Adrian said informatively.

"Whatever you say, Andrew," The man rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. Instantly and nervous satyr appeared at his side, bringing a tray of diet coke and snacks including chips and cookies.

"I thought Dionysus drunk Pepsi," Lysandra noted.

"That's Bacchus you're talking about, I think" said Adrian, unsurely.

"You're Dionysus?" Rosamynd stared openly at the obese God of wine.

"Yes- you got a problem with that, kid?" Mr. D said, popping a grape into his mouth.

"No, sir."

"Good."

The satyr scurried away, and Rosamynd instantly felt sorry for him. She couldn't imagine how horrible it must be to be constantly living in fear.

"As you know, Hermes sent Rosamynd to deli-" Lysandra

"Blah blah blah, I heard all about it," Mr D looked bored as he took a gulp of coke, "The thing is, who are going to go to this quest? There are tons of minor gods out there. We don't have to concentrate on that now."

"We have to figure out what the prophecy means!"

"I don't know- maybe the prophecy is actually us three and other minor gods- I think we're in it." said Lysandra.

"I'm not sure. I mean, we're so young, and there are other minor gods out there who are far more experienced than us."

"The thing is, the prophecy is not directed at specific people exactly, it could be anyone!"

"Would you three just shut up?" Dionysus ordered sharply, "Chiron and I shall decide who are going on this quest. Now you three just go run off and play or something."

Adrian and Lysandra sighed frustrated and turned away, storming out of the house.

"Rebecca," Rosamynd froze. He was obviously referring to her. She faced him again, her head slightly bowed in respect and also because she was afraid to make eye contact with the god. "Yes, sir?"

"I like you. You're nice. You're quiet. You're respectful. So i'm gonna let you in a little secret. You three are destined for this quest. So a little heads up; don't forget what matters the most-because that's what gets you through to the end, and don't tell the others quite yet."

Rosamynd blinked, weirded out by this information. _Did Dionysus just- help me? Dionysus? The wine god? Rumoured to have never willingly helped anyone?_

"Th-thank you, Mr D." She bowed again and exited as quickly as she could- without it seeming too obvious.

Rosamynd quickly rushed out of the big house and found Lys and Adrian standing there whispering to each other. She walked over to them, her head hung low.

"What happened with Mr. D?" Lysandra asked.

"Nothing, he just asked what else I knew about the prophecy and if Hermes told me anything about it," Rosamynd replied. "But I didn't really have anything to say."

"Oh, we should get training, we might be a part of the prophecy, you never know and plus I really need to work on my combat," Lysandra said dragging Adrian along with her. Rosamynd ignored Lysandra and went back to her cabin; she slipped into bed and fell into a deep sleep.

_There were two people standing there in her dream. Siblings, by the looks of it. They both were tall, with black hair and sharp brown eyes. The boy was trying to hunt down a hare with his bow and arrows, while the girl was setting up a tent, fussing over the knots._

_"Urgh!" She heard the girl say "These knots are impossible to tie"_

_"Just be gentle with it, Elektra" The boy sighed._

_"Fine!" Elektra huffed, but made an effort to be gentler with it. Rosamynd looked on more closely, now realizing this was a dream. They were in a forest - Half-Blood hill's forest, perhaps? They tended the fire, huddling close together. In her dream state, Rosamynd zoomed forwards, into a cave not so far from the two. And froze. In the gloomy, slimy cave, there were three ugly, repulsive Cyclops. And they were preparing for a hunt._

Rosamynd sat up with a jolt, cold sweat trickling down her spine. She shot out of her bed, bolting out of her cabin, through the amphitheatre and campfire, and into the training arena.

"Lysandra! Adrian!" Rosamynd panted for breath as her friends looked at her with confusion, "Two people- camping...woods...Cyclops!"

Lysandra seemed to string together what Rosamynd sputtered out, and grabbed two knives on the table and handed them to Rosamynd.

"I should be able to sense them when we go close enough into the forest. Let's go!" Lysandra immediately grabbed her dagger as she ran out, Rosamynd and Adrian sprinting after her.

Rosamynd wasn't much of a runner but she was determined to save the two mysterious people in the woods. They had to run a long way, but they finally reached and clearing much like in her dream, panting and wheezing. Rosamynd took the lead, pushing leaves out of the way to make a path for them.

"Where do you think they are?" Adrian whispered, drawing his duel swords.

"No clue, shush," An irritated Lysandra silenced Adrian and listened for the distant signs of activity, her ears slowly turning red. Huh. Lysandra heard some growling sort of noises coming from a nearby echoing area. Lys gestured to Rosamynd where noise was coming from. Rosamynd took the lead and pushed away leaves and branches away, in case they stepped on them and made a noise.

Rosamynd jogged quickly towards the cave, knife at the ready even though she had no clue how to use it. As she pointed to the cave and signalled for the other two godlings to join her behind a tree, she caught sight of the two dark haired people she saw eating by their tent, unaware of the danger lurking close by.

The Cyclopes' stepped forward from the cave holding a metal bat and sniffed the air, his beady eye narrowing with concentration. Lysandra seemed frozen in her space, looking in shock at the boy.

"Lysandra? What's wrong?" asked Rosamynd.

"Huh? Oh, n-nothing" She replied, looking away from the boy.

"Okay then, let's charge!" Adrian screamed. The Cyclopes, the girl Elektra and her brother turned towards them. The Cyclopes made a grunting noise that sounded like the word "dinner" and smacked their lips. The siblings walked forward, unaware of the monsters.

The boy's eyes widened in recognition, "It's you," he whispered softly.

"What are you on about, Enryx?" Elektra said. Suddenly her eyes widened as she caught sight of the cyclopes, Rosamynd, Lysandra and Adrian. "Lysandra?"

"Y-es?" Lysandra whispered back, before one of the Cyclopes charged at them.

"DINNER!" The Cyclopes lunged forward, tackling a shocked Lysandra to the ground. Enryx shot an arrow at the cyclopes, it stuck into his thick skin. The cyclopes growled in pain, and he pinned Lysandra to the ground. Rosamynd ran and to the second Cyclopes and kicked it in the shin and sunk the soil underneath his feet causing him to sink very slowly. The Cyclopes swatted at Rosamynd but she quickly dodged his attempts.

Meanwhile Adrian rushed over to the third Cyclopes along with the dark-haired girl. Adrian jabbed at the Cyclopes in quick swift movements, but even his sharp swords had little effect on the Cyclopes' thick hide. Elektra pulled her bow repeatedly yet the arrows still had no effect on the Cyclopes.

"Get out of the way!" The boy, Enryx called over his shoulder to the startled trio. He and his sister leapt up to the Cyclopes Adrian and Elektra were battling and shot at the same time. The silver arrow, which came from the girl's bow, shot him directly at his one eye, while the gold one entered into his mouth as he screamed in pain. An explosion rocketed inside the monster, and he exploded in a flurry of grime and dust.

Enryx turned to the other Cyclopes, held up his bow and took a shot at the Cyclopes sinking's chest. The Cyclopes roared in agony, hunching forward.

Rosamynd immediately scrambled up and stabbed the monster in the eye, effectively killing him.

Lys managed to grab her dagger and stuck her dagger into the Cyclopes pinning her down. She rolled away from the one-eyed giant.

They all turned to what seemed to be the leader of the three. Lysandra and Enryx locked eyes for a split second, and they advanced together. They moved with such fluidity and grace that Rosamynd had a hard time believing they didn't plan a strategy beforehand. Lysandra leapt up behind the monster and stabbed him at the small of the monster's back. Enryx shot arrows at the Cyclopes' ankles and knees, trying to get him to buckle and fall. He succeeded and gestured to the rest of them. They all charged up and attempted to kill the remaining monster. The furious Cyclopes swatted Adrian away, his swords making no scratches whatsoever. Lysandra tried to stab the monster, but he evaded her attack and flung her away. Desperately, Rosamynd started to slice at the Cyclopes' skin, but he punched her and she felt the wind get knocked out of her as she hit the floor. Hard.

Barely conscious, Rosamynd looked on. Only the siblings, Enryx and Elektra were left to fight. Again, they shot at the exact same second, though this time before the arrows hit the Cyclops, their arrows intertwined and intensified, power coursing the arrows. It penetrated the monster, and he shrieked in rage as he fell to the forest ground, beginning to vaporize before he hit the floor.

Enryx quickly snatched out all the arrows stuck in the Cyclopes' skin before they disappeared with the Cyclopes' carcass.

"Thanks! Sorry, I never caught your name," Rosamynd said as Adrian helped her up, looking at Enryx.

"No problem. I'm Enryx," He said, shaking Rosamynd's hand. "How did you guys know we were here?" He said as he shuffled his feet, glancing at Lysandra. He picked up a thin cloth and wiped his arrows clean.

"We didn't, not until Rosamynd had some dream sort of showing us that there were monsters about to hunt you down," Adrian replied.

"So how did you know we were here?" But before he let anyone answer, he said "Oh! Right- Lysandra's senses."

"Well, thanks for coming, I guess. We should get going now. Nice seeing you again, Lysandra," Enryx walked towards his tent and picked up his bag. "Let's go Elektra," He nodded at Lysandra in gratitude. Elektra followed Enryx towards their tent, which had fallen down during the fight.

"By the way Elektra, thanks for helping me out, I feel much better," Rosamynd quickly said.

"Any time, Rosamynd, take care of that nose,"

"Wait! Where are you going?" Lysandra shouted out after them, while Rosamynd turned to Adrian and whispered "Again?"

"Anywhere really, Elektra and I are sort of camping here and there. You know, like nomads," Enryx explained.

"Why don't you guys stay with us?" Adrian offered, a bright smile shining with gratitude, "We could use a couple of powerful demigods like you."

"Oh-we're not demigods," Elektra's pretty face twisted into a frown, "We decided not to go to Camp Half-Blood for its reputation of resenting Godlings, and I think we've faced enough resentment for a while now."

Godlings! Rosamynd looked at Adrian to see his expressions mirroring hers. They could be one of the remaining six Minor Gods we've yet to find!

"We're godlings too!" Adrian blurted out.

"Yeah! Camp Half-Blood isn't that bad, you guys should come" Rosamynd agreed.

Elektra and Enryx shared a glance. "Well, we- um." Enryx started.

"We have to kind of- uh- well, we can't go- no, we can go, but-" Elektra said.

"Aw, Elektra- no buts! Come on, it'll be fun! Enryx? Lysandra said hopefully, clutching fiddling with the strap of her bag, which she brought everywhere.

_Here goes my dignity._ Rosamynd sighed, then looked up at the archers with pleading eyes, "Please, please, please go back to camp with us. You see, there's this prophecy, and there are nine Godlings who must go on a quest. So far, there's the three of us- I'm Rosamynd, by the way, and this is Adrian-" Adrian smiled widely and waved, "-And I guess... I guess you guys already know Lys. Well I'm not sure that it's the three of us, we're still trying to figure that out." They shrugged, looking at each other. Lysandra diverted her attention to the grassy forest bed.

"Anyways, we're looking for six more, and you're probably two of those six. We need you guys. And besides, some demigods might not be very friendly - trust me, I know how it feels - but you guy will have us!"

Elektra bit her lip, glancing at her brother and frowning slightly. Finally, she braved a smile and looked at the others, "Why not? We are honoured to accept your invitation."

Lysandra giggled, "You don't have to be so formal. From here on, we're your friends!"

They all made their way back to camp. The sun was already starting to set. Rosamynd turned around to whisper to Lysandra about the exciting turn of events, but only to find her sneaking glances at Enryx. They obviously had some kind of history together. I wonder how serious it is. Not so surprisingly, she also caught the boy in question staring at the cat-like godling and few times, too.

Instead, Rosamynd jogged ahead and started chatting to Adrian, whispering excitedly about their new friends. They're obviously children of Apollo. I wonder who their mother is.

When they finally reached the camp, the last rays of sunlight were draining from the sky. Rosamynd bade the others goodnight and headed back to cabin 18. She really was the luckiest of the bunch; she was the only person there. She sank back into her peaceful slumber, intent on catching up on her slumber.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Chapter 5 ~ Lysandra_**

Lysandra woke up with excitement, interested to see what this day would progress into. She quickly got out of bed. She took a quick shower, making an extra effort to look nice today. She frowned. She shouldn't be looking nice for _anybody. _She sighed and decided to take the extra hour she had before breakfast to organize her cabin. Although the Hecate cabin wasn't known for tidiness, Lysandra really liked things in control. _Unlike this situation. _She loved acting like the den mother of the cabin. She felt a tug on her shirt; she turned around but didn't see anything.

"'Scooze me," Lysandra looked down and saw Annie, her six year old younger half-sister - possibly youngest in the camp, as well. She came in a couple days ago with her brother, and Lysandra had seen her around, but never really talked to her.

"Hi Annie!" Lys said gently, crouching down to her height. "Do you need help with anything?"

"Yep, can wu hwelp mwe gwet mwy teddy?" Annie whispered, pointing to a high shelf next to her bed. "My bwover threw wit up thwere," She had a gap tooth - it was adorable.

"Of course, honey," Lysandra couldn't resist and reached up to grab the stuffed toy from its high perch of the shelf and handed it to her.

"Fanks, Wyzzy" Annie whispered, biting on her teddy's ear. The plush toy was worn but loved, and Lysandra's melted. Annie reached out and hugged Lysandra. I can't remember the last time I was hugged like that, she thought wistfully. She reached down and fondly patted Annie's tufty, dark hair.

"No problem, Annie."

"Can wu pwease bwing me to bweakfast?" Annie requested her eyes big, holding up her hand. Lysandra nodded and held her hand as they walked to the breakfast hall. As they walked Lysandra kept looking down, admiring how cute she was.

"Wys, are wu weally a gwoddess?" Annie suddenly asked.

"Yes I am, Annie but a lot of people here don't like me and my friends because I'm a goddess,"

"I wike wu!" Annie exclaimed. Lys looked down at her, smiling brightly.

"What do you think you're doing with my little sister?" Lysandra froze at the sound of a harsh voice, and whirled around, subconsciously moving slightly to the side and shielding Annie behind her back.

The boy in front of her was about two or three years older, with rippling muscles and a mean expression. He slowly stepped forward and with each step he took forward, Lys took a step back.

"I-uh," Lysandra stammered, her heart sinking, "Sorry." She muttered, gently nudging his baby sister forward.

"Bwover, its okway, shwe wis nwice,"

"Does it look like I care?" Even as his growl grew deeper, his eyes became softer. "Come here, Annie." He drew her protectively by his side, turning away and walking towards the lake, "You don't want to be hanging around the godlings."

Lysandra watched her new friends forlornly walk away. Annie turned around again, her eyes sad as she gave Lys a little wave. Lys waved back, mustering a plastic smile. She sighed, turned and continued walking to the breakfast hall, her day already starting horribly.

She sat down in her seat, miserable_. First them. And now this? _She sighed, leaning back and closing her eyes. All she wanted was a friend, a demi-god friend._ It really sucks, being this lonely._

All her life -until now- she was all smiles and laughter with a group of friends, without a care in the world.

"What are you thinking about?" She looked up and saw Elektra standing over her.

"Nothing much, Elektra," Lysandra said, smiling at the newcomer.

"I wasn't really sure at first if we should have come, you know," Elektra stated quietly. Lysandra felt a pang of sympathy for her friend. She was like that at first, too.

"You'll be fine," Lysandra reassured the female archer. Elektra bit her lip, looking for a topic for their awkward attempt at small talk.

"So, uh," Lysandra cleared her throat uncertainly, her face growing redder by the second, "How is... uh..."

Elektra looked confused for a moment, then remembered Lys' secret, the one where she swore not to tell a living soul.

"Oh! He's fine. Good, actually," Elektra smiled fondly, "He's made new friends."

Instantly, Lysandra felt a rush of jealousy - and even because he making friends. She instantly blushed, feeling stupid and embarrassed_. I never used to be like this._ She frowned, pushing her hair from her face as she pushed the bowl of cereal away from her. Suddenly, she just wasn't hungry. She heard a loud burst of laughter. Looking up, she saw _him_ surrounded by a posse of girls from the Aphrodite cabin. Elektra gave me a small smile, and waved again before joining her brother across the hall. Lysandra stood up and tried to make her way to the crowd of Aphrodite girls surrounding the boys. She could barely even see Enryx. She wanted to talk to him;_they could easily fit in, why can't I?_

After a painful breakfast of watching Adrian and Enryx getting bombarded questions about being a godling by -she's not going to lie- very, very attractive girls, Lysandra wanted to head back to her cabin, where she could lay in peace without getting disturbed. However, once she stepped out of the breakfast hall, she was greeted by Adrian and Rosamynd - both with stern yet confused expressions.

"We need to talk," Adrian glanced at the apparently popular newcomers, and vague look on his face, "Just the three of us." Although Rosamynd didn't seem to lean either way, she glanced at Lys, tilting her head slightly towards the lake.

"Alright, fine," Lysandra tried to appear nonchalant, but her blood has frozen to ice._ Do they know?_

"Let's take a walk." Adrian gestured towards the lake, with Lysandra meekly followed behind, knowing that she had some explaining to do.

"What's up with you and Enryx?" Rosamynd asked. "You guys seem like you have a history of some kind.

"It's nothing really. We just met, we got along instantly but we had a fight. Then I got mad and left them, I've been wandering around until I met you."

"Harsh," Adrian commented. Rosamynd nudged him, frowning.

"Tell me about it. He pretended like he doesn't know me, so I did the same," Lysandra said sadly.

"You should talk to him, forgive each other and talk it out," Rosamynd suggested.

"I've tried, at breakfast. I was going to approach him and talk to him."

"...but?" Rosamynd prompted, trying not to sound too interrogative, though she clearly wanted to know.

"He was... busy," Lysandra sighed, and then gritted her teeth as she bitterly thought of Enryx and his glittery, giggly girls.

"What do you mean he was busy? He was with me at breakfast, along with the Aphrodite chicks!" Adrian grinned, clueless. Rosamynd nudged him again, raising her eyebrows in exasperation.

"Oh," Adrian frowned, looking down at the sun baked earth. Suddenly, he didn't really like Enryx very much.

"What about his sister? Elektra, was it?" Adrian asked. Lysandra shrugged.

"Yeah, we get along fine," Lysandra bit her lip, looking up at the abnormally blue sky, "Actually, she was the first to know about this."

"About what?" the other two godlings chorused. Lysandra froze, realizing her mistake.

"Nothing," Lysandra quickly said her head down not willing to talk.

"C'mon tell us!" Adrian wheedled.

"Seriously guys, it's nothing!" Lysandra lied, turning away so they wouldn't see her burning face.

"If you don't want to talk about it, its fine, you don't have to tell us," Rosamynd said sweetly. Lysandra nodded to her in gratitude. After a while of a silent walk around the lake, they reached the cabins and they all walked up to the beautiful green and white cabin with gold designs running along the outside walls with magical spells engraved into the exterior. _Cabin 20._

"Wow, Hecate's cabin is really...how I put this...magical," Adrian exclaimed in awe. Lysandra grinned and nodded.

"I'm glad I'm a child of Hecate, sucks that she made a horrible decision mating with my father."

"Mating?" Adrian made a twisted face, causing everyone to laugh, "I don't the sound of _that_."

"Who does?" Rosamynd smirked, patting him cheerfully on the head before heading back to Hebe's Cabin.

Lysandra turned back to her blond friend to wave him off, but Adrian caught her wrist and looked her squarely in the eye.

"Listen, I know you are uncomfortable about this, but I can help," Adrian's eyes softened as his face molded into a more concerned expression, "Just... tell me when you're ready, ok?"

Lysandra nodded gratefully, but her eyes started glistening with unshed tears. Just as Adrian smiled warmly at her, Lys surprised him by pulling him into a hug, dry sobbing into his shoulder.

"Hey-hey, it's ok," Adrian patted her awkwardly on her shoulder, unsure what to do, "Listen to me. You're going to be alright. You are. Just - hold on, even for a little problem. Everything will work out. I promise."

Lys sniffled embarrassedly, before pulling out and offering her friend a watery smile. "Listen, I know we aren't really close, but I'm glad to have met you."

"Same here," Adrian grinned before playfully ruffling her hair, "Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"

"Okay."

Lysandra watched him stroll back to his cabin, then sighed and turned back to her cabin. Something tells her things aren't going to be so smooth anytime soon.

As Lysandra trudged into the airy cabin, barely anyone was back._They must still be at breakfast._ Only the cabin counselor was here, scribbling fervently on a piece of paper. Including herself, there were only six campers who were children of Hecate. There were five bunk beds, pushed up against the rune-inscribed wall. Obviously, Lysandra was given the one where no one has to share with. Given other situation, Lys would have been content with having more personal space, but this time it only intensified her loneliness.

She picked up a spell book that her mother had given to the cabin and flipped to the first page. She hadn't studied magic in a while. She scanned through the front page, practicing the spell, mumbling it under her breath. Soon enough a single piece of paper on the counselor's desk burst into flames. The counselor looked up at Lysandra, shook her head and continued scribbling on a piece of paper.

She continued practicing her magic in her cabin, small things catching on fires and things flying everywhere. But a few seconds after the spelled initiated, the cabin would resist the magic and the spell would wear off. And during all that practice the counselor didn't once look up.

_What am I doing?_ Lysandra flopped back down on her bed, staring up at the intricately designed ceiling, mentally tracing the elegant patterns and inscriptions.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 ~ Adrian

After the little breakfast 'talk' he had with Rosamynd and Lysandra, Adrian headed off to the combat training area where there were demigods battling against one another. Swords and daggers banging and crashing together. Music to his ears. He crossed his arms and with each hand grabbed each sword from their sheaths. They still had a little cyclopes blood on them, so he dipped his swords into the lake, the blood washed away instantly. He leaned against the boulder and wiped the water off his swords with his shirt.

He heard a clatter of hooves running towards the training area. Chiron trotted toward the fighters and the trainees stopped battling. Chiron nodded at the demigods and granted permission for them to continue training. Chiron beckoned Adrian to come join him. Adrian slowly walked over to him, his head hung low.

"Adrian, I have a task for you," Chiron said. Adrian looked up at the centaur.

"A task? What task?" Adrian asked curiously, shuffling his feet.

"I have learned from your peers that you are a skilled swordsman," Chiron smiled, watching Adrian pick himself up, and his eyes grow brighter.

"I'm not so bad, I guess being a Son of Ares started it," Adrian shuffled his feet once again, trying not to grin.

"Don't be modest, Adrian, you have great talent in combat, don't hide it," Chiron smiled warmly at the Godling.

"Thank you Mr. Chiron," Adrian thanked, his chest puffing up with pride.

"Just Chiron will do, Adrian," Chiron corrected.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's the task?"

"Well, we haven't really ever had a proper combat trainer in Camp Half-Blood since the last one went off, I would like to assign you as a Combat trainer to help out the demigods and prepare them for battle!"

"But why can't one of the Ares older kids train them?" Adrian asked.

"They are not as skilled as you, they still have to learn, Adrian." Chiron explained.

"Thank you and when should I start?"

"Right now."

Adrian turned around and glanced at the fighting demigods and gulped nervously, his Adrian's apple bobbing up and down.

"Like right now, like I actually have to talk to them, right now?" Adrian

"Chiron, you want me to train these demigods? We both know that the demigods don't like godlings!"

Chiron gave him a reassuring smile, his weather-worn face crinkling up at the edges, "Then perhaps its time for you to get to know them. Once you hear both sides of the story, you will understand a lot more about this situation."

"What do you even mean?" Adrian said as Chiron cantered away. Adrian rolled his eyes, unsure of what to do. Adrian walked up to the boulder and climbed it and stood on top of it.

"Um.. excuse me? Please be quiet, excuse me" He tried silencing the battling crowd.

"SHUT IT!" A female voice yelled. The demigods all lowered their weapons and looked up at Adrian.

"Thank you," He whispered to the girl who silenced the crowd. He turned to his audience nervously, unsure of what to say. "It has come to my attention that you demigods will need a teacher for combat training."

"We don't need a teacher! Who told you to train us?" A random voice shouted from the crowd below.

"Well, Chiron just asked me if I'd have the time to train and teach you to be better and more skilled warriors!"

"Yeah, and as usual, the mighty and all powerful _Godling_ is gonna lead us," A boy jeered, turning to the crowds. The crowd roared in agreement.

"Please be quiet," Adrian squeaked, and the girl who silenced everyone earlier climbed up onto the boulder next to him.

"Oi! Be quiet and be respectful!" The girl yelled at the small crowd of demigods. He nodded in gratitude to the looked at her through her headgear. He couldn't see her that clearly but he couldn't help but feel that he'd seen her before. _Maybe she had just that kind of face._

Adrian surveyed the small gathering of trainees. He knew most of them by name-There was Alli-_Hooray_; Aaron, the son of Hecate and the burly brother of the toddler Annie; Emily and Evelyn, the twin girls from the Hypnos cabin; Jacob, a son of Ares; and the girl next to him, who he now knew was a daughter of Aphrodite he could tell by the drooling boys looking up at her with love-struck eyes. _She must be new._ Adrian bit back a laugh as he saw her inching away from the boys, who were now flexing their muscles and showing off. It was quite disturbing.

"Well, um, Chiron specifically asked me to train and help you guys so I'm gonna obey his orders and do as he says," Adrian said. "Let's start with the weaponry categories," Adrian sorted out the demigods into their categories. The warriors reluctant to obey his orders but they finally obliged, unable to find fault in his actions.

He sorted them into four stations-Sparring with swords, archery, close combat and just using fists. There, he felt at ease, even training amongst the demigods._ I should really just do this more often,_ Adrian relaxed, looking at the demigods at work. There were some quarrels between them and looks of hostility, particularly from Alli and Aaron, but overall it went quite smoothly.

After two hours of intense arguing and battling, his session finally ended when a satyr announced it was time for lunch. The demigods took of their gear and ran off, except a few who tidied up all the equipment, including the Aphrodite girl who helped him out earlier. Adrian plucked up the courage and walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and Adrian could just see her smile through her headgear.

"Thanks for helping me out today. I, uh, don't really know how to control a crowd, especially a crowd of demigods that hate my guts," Adrian flashed her a warm smile, which she returned.

"It's alright. I'm Trudy, and you must be Adrian. All of my sisters talk about you," Trudy struck her hand out, and Adrian shook it, finding himself holding on for just a little bit too long.

Trudy took off her headgear, her blonde hair falling down onto her shoulders then down to her waist and glimmering in the harsh sunlight. She took off the armor covering her torso and packed everything up. Adrian gulped at the sight of her beauty, she didn't look like any ordinary Aphrodite girl. She looked less barbie-like and girly. She almost looked like she was a mix; not just a daughter of Aphrodite. Adrian frowned then shrugged, letting it go. She had to be a daughter of Aphrodite, why else would she be at Camp Half-Blood.

"So, uh, are you heading to lunch?" Adrian instantly felt himself heat up, and had to restrict himself from smashing his head against the wall. _Of course she is, dimwit! Real smooth._ Trudy smiled again, holding back a giggle.

"No, I don't eat," She looked him with big doe eyes, which were full of laughter, "Just kidding, of course I do. Come with?"

Adrian grinned and offered her his arm, she took it, and together they strolled down the sunny path and towards the Hall. Some of Adrian's half brothers and sisters of the Ares Cabin wolf-whistled when they went past, soon the crowd in front of the breakfast hall parted to either side to let them through.

Adrian sat down at the Ares table, thinking that Trudy would leave him and join the Aphrodite girls but instead she sat down next to him, her arm still on his. She picked up a cucumber slice and nibbled it, cutting away all the corners then eating the insides.

"So Adrian, what's it like being a godling?" Trudy asked, then blushed, shaking her head, "Sorry. That was probably personal. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's alright," Adrian looked at her, staring into her eyes, which seemed to change shades of amber. He realized he'd been staring into her eyes for too long. "Well, uh, I definitely seem to be a much bigger threat to some demigods and I guess being a godling has it's perks."

They smiled at each other again, but this time they were interrupted by a very loud Rosamynd.

"Oh my gods, are you guys like going out?" Rosamynd made an excited squeal, then turned to shout across the room, "Oi, Lys! Get over here! Adrian's found a lady friend!" Then Lysandra rushed over to to the Ares table, chewing excitedly on some bread. Adrian blushed and filled his plate with food.

"Do you want to maybe head out and eat on the patio?" Adrian asked Trudy who was filling her plate with food as well.

"No, stay here!" Rosamynd pleaded. Adrian gave Rosamynd a weird look as she piped down. Trudy laughed.

"Yeah, let's go," Trudy whispered and got up, turning to Adrian with a cheerful glint in her eyes. He followed her out. They both sat down on the steps and ate slowly, pausing occasionally to look at each other, lapsing in a comfortable silence.

"Sorry about my friends, by the way," Adrian apologized, breaking the awkward silence.

"It's alright, I mean, they're nice,"

"Right." He answered back, looking back to his food.

"So- are you going to tell me who they are, or... ?"

"Oh, right!" He laughed. "So the girl with reddish hair is Rosamynd Summers; she's a daughter of Hermes and Hebe." He stopped to glance at Trudy, who was nodding. "And Lys is daughter of Hecate and Hades."

"Hecate, wow" Trudy whispered, touching the silver bracelet on her wrist.

"What's it like being a daughter of Aphrodite?"

"How'd you know?" She said, her head jerking up.

"Well you're beautiful and.." He said, as his cheeks started to redden up.

"You think I'm beautiful?" Trudy said, blushing slightly as well.

"Of course!"

"Well thank you." She said as she looked down to her lap, and a long strand of hair fell down in front of her face. Adrian reached out to her face, and tucked her strand of hair behind her ear.

"So, um, are you still hungry?" Adrian asked, pushing his empty plate aside. He smiled as Trudy laughed, her head falling behind.

"Here," He smiled as she gave him her half full plate. Adrian finished off her food and chatted with Trudy for longer.

"Do you want to head back inside?" Trudy asked, one hand on his arm.

"Sure," Adrian replied standing up and reached for her arm to help Trudy up. Trudy stood up and took hold of Adrian's hand.

"Wait hold on," Adrian hurried back, collecting the plates he left and piled them on top of each other. He reached for Trudy's arm once more, only missing her hand by a bit and snapping her bracelet chain. The bracelet slid of Trudy's arm and onto the floor.

"Oh my gods!" Trudy quickly reached for her bracelet that lay on the floor. She picked up the silver trinket glittering on the floor. "I'm sorry I have to go!"

She sprinted back into the breakfast hall. Adrian sighed, slamming back against the wall with a dull thud. _Did I do anything wrong? Her bracelet just fell off. Was it really a big deal?_ I guess it just has considerable emotional value to her. I'm such an idiot. He walked dejectedly back to the hall, where Lys, Rosamynd, Enryx and Elektra were waiting for him on the front steps.

"What happened? We saw her run out," Elektra questioned.

"Her bracelet snapped and she ran off," Adrian replied, sitting down on the steps and burying his face in his hands.

"Wow, talk about typical daughter of Aphrodite, running off because her bracelet snapped," Enryx scoffed. Elektra elbowed him in the arm and shot him a hard look. They frowned at each other for some time, until Enryx looked away, muttering under his breath, "Well its true."

"Shut up," Adrian groaned.

"Well, did the bracelet break?" Lysandra asked, sitting down next to him.

Adrian flopped onto the grass, staring aimlessly up at the sky, "No, I don't think it did, I just probably broke the chain and it just dropped onto the ground. But there must have been some damage to it."

"Well I don't see what the big deal is about, it's just a bracelet!" Rosamynd rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

Lysandra widened her eyes and exclaimed, "It's not just any bracelet. Adrian, what did that bracelet look like?"

Adrian shrugged, lazily tracing patterns in the fluffy clouds, "I dunno, silver, with this weird, swirly design."

"This one?" Lysandra shoved an open book she'd probably been reading the whole time into Adrian's face.

"Yeah," Adrian sat up, promptly slamming his face onto the book, "Where'd you get that?"

Just then Chiron galloped out of the breakfast hall,and sprinted towards the Big House with Trudy on his back, her hair shimmering from it's normal blonde to russet colour. Adrian jumped up and sprinted after the centaur.

"Where are you going?" He heard a voice yell after him but he didn't bother to answer.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 ~Rosamynd**

Rosamynd chased after the rest of the gang, unable to keep up with the rest. Adrian was far ahead of all of them, determined to catch up with Chiron and Trudy- yet he still far behind from the centaur and his passenger. Chiron stormed into the Big House and slammed the door shut. Adrian stopped by the front door, trying to look through the windows as everyone else caught up to him. Rosamynd was hunched over panting and gasping for air. _I hate running!_ She felt a hand rubbing and patting her back.

"You ok?" Elektra said, comforting her.

"Yeah, just not the athletic type," Rosamynd responded, craving air and oxygen.

"Well, we have to fix that," Enryx frowned and rolled his eyes. Rosamynd couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

"Guys can you please shut up?" Adrian asked, his eyes glued boring holes into the window.

Rosamynd looked at him, confusion taking over her face. _How can one just become so obsessive about a person they've known for like, four hours? I can't imagine doing something like that. Maybe Trudy put some weird Aphrodite love spell on him or it was just the fact that she was a daughter of Aphrodite_. Then she heard a booming voice coming from inside the Big House.

"Godlings, step inside please."

Rosamynd's head snapped up at the sound of Chiron's voice, startled out of her speculation. She turned to the others, unsure of what to do. Lysandra nodded at her and gulped. Adrian took the lead and opened the door and stepped inside. Rosamynd trailed behind him, a million thoughts running through her head. Adrian led the others to the couch in the office, sitting down next to Trudy, who smiled wanly and squeezed his hand. Her eyes were red from the sobbing, her hair now light brown. Lysandra frowned, and plopped herself onto his other side. Chiron trotted up in front of them.

"Godlings, I kno-," Chiron started to explain.

"Godlings and Trudy," Lysandra corrected, raising her eyebrows. "Just by the way, sorry." Rosamynd felt like groaning. She knew Lys knew what was going on, but the feline goddess was not letting anyone in on that. Chiron nodded at Lysandra, his eyes solemn and understanding. _He knows that she knows about what?_

"I know that you want to know what's going on, but I have been talking to Trudy and she decided to tell you all the truth about her and her parents."

"The truth about Aphrodite?" Enryx asked. "What truth?"

"Aphrodite and some human, right?" Lysandra cut in. Chiron hung his head low, giving a small shake.

"Aphrodite and some other god. Hephaestus," Trudy said softly. Even though it was barely a whisper, everyone seemed to hear it.

"Aphrodite and who?" Rosamynd asked, shocked.

"Hephaestus," Adrian repeated, not looking at her, but at Trudy. Her amber eyes were glistening with unshed tears, threatening to overflow.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you on the patio, but, I-I didn't know what you would think of me!"

"What I would think of you? Trudy, we're the same. We're godlings!" Adrian's eyes were full with encouragement, gripping on to Trudy's shaking hand. Trudy nodded, squeezing back tight.

"But why did you pretend to be a demigod?" Elektra asked.

"A year ago, a godling came to camp half blood, hoping to seek further knowledge about demigods. But the demigods resented him, constantly pushing him away and trying their best to make his life miserable. And then after a month at Camp Half-Blood, he fled. Ever since then demigods were always hateful to godlings. After I arrived, Chiron immediately hid me away in the Big House, keeping me well and protecting me from the demigod's scorn."

"I asked your mother, Hecate," Chiron looked towards Lysandra. "If she could make some sort of protection bubble of some sort or a spell to help hide Trudy from the other demigods. Like a mist that only covers Trudy. Hecate granted the favour and made one, disguised it as a charm bracelet and sent it to Aphrodite, who then gave it to Trudy."

"So I started showing my face around Camp Half-Blood as a demigod and just said the bracelet was a family heirloom. I managed to hide as half-blood for a year until you guys arrived and then... well, you know the rest," Trudy bit her lip, overwhelmed by all the unwanted attention. Rosamynd mentally shook her head, trying to process all the information.

"Why did you come to Camp Half-Blood in the first place?" Elektra asked curiously.

"I just wanted to go and live independently, to explore. But soon I ran out of food and drachmas and mortal money. I realized I couldn't ask my parents to live with them again so I decided to stock up at here at Camp Half-Blood and stay here awhile. But I ended up staying for longer than intended." Trudy explained.

"Oh. So what are you the goddess of?" Lysandra said, in a high-pitched voice- she hated to be wrong.

"I'm the goddess of Art" She replied, smiling brightly.

"So you like, draw?" Rosamynd asked. Trudy nodded and stood up, looking like she was about to start pacing back and forth like a detective. She watched as Adrian shook his head and grabbed Trudy's hand again, gently pulling her back down onto the couch.

"Well are you going to tell everyone that you're a godling? Or are you going to keep it secret?" Enryx asked.

"Well I can't disguise myself as a demigod anymore, until Hecate can fix my bracelet."

"What happened to it? Did it break?" Elektra pondered.

"Yeah, Hecate cast the spell on the charm and when it snapped off the chain, the spell broke," Trudy explained. "I shouldn't be here in the Big House basement any longer, it'll get the demigods suspicious. So I guess I have to tell them..."

"Aren't you afraid of people hating on you?" Enryx asked.

"She's the same person, demigod or not. It shouldn't matter that she's a demigod or a godling," Adrian rushed into Trudy's defence. Trudy smiled at him and Rosamynd struggled to restrain herself from rolling her eyes.

"Well how are you going to tell everyone?" Lysandra questioned, clearly worried about Trudy.

"I'm still not sure how I'm going to do that," She said, her pretty eyes filled with nervousness.

"Don't worry about it, Gertrude. I will first inform the Aphrodite cabin and once that's done with I'll inform the rest of the cabins. Under my strict orders, no demigod shall harm you in any way. This refers to all of you," Chiron reassured them.

They all nodded and thanked Chiron as they exited the Big House. Adrian and Trudy were holding hands as they walked out and headed for the lake. Rosamynd trailed behind, annoyed how lovey-dovey they were together.

"Gertrude?" She whispered to herself, laughing.

"Well, uh, Trudy and I are going to the lake!" Adrian said grinning cheekily.

"I'll come too!" The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Adrian gave her a look that said _we-want-to-be-alone_. Rosamynd sighed, "On second thought, I'll just go train."

"Well you kids have fun!" Enryx laughed. Elektra gave her brother a punch and a glare, but she waved at the happy couple as they walked towards the lake, their heads bent close together and holding hands. Rosamynd wanted to gag at them.

"So what do you want to do now?" Enryx asked the others.

"Well I want to practice my healing and herb-making -If you have time of course." Rosamynd asked Elektra.

"That's a good idea, let's go!" Elektra agreed, nodding. They set off towards the woods, lapsing in companionable silence. They hiked halfway up a small hill, then settled down, lazing around on the perfect sunny day.

"Somehow, I have a feeling_ herb-making_ is the last thing on your mind," Elektra's soft voice pierced Rosamynd's thoughts, shaking her from her daze.

"What do you mean?" Rosamynd asked. _How can she know? She can't read people _that_ well... right?_

"I think you know what I mean," Elektra pressed on, a blush creeping up her pale face.

"About... Adrian?" Rosamynd shyly asked. Elektra nodded and giggled, trying to cover her mouth as she did so, yet failing miserably. It was contagious, and soon Rosamynd started laughing as well. Before she knew it, they were lying down on the grassy floor, letting the afternoon trickle away as bit by bit, Rosamynd poured out her feelings - her past, and her likes and dislikes... her conflictions.

"So, you and Adrian? Thoughts?" Elektra urged on. Rosamynd tensed. She knew Elektra knew about _him._

"Uh...well..."

"C'mon. I know you like him. Pity he's with Trudy though - well I think they're together now."

"Together?" She paled against her.

"As in they're in a relationship?" Elektra nodded affirmatively.

"As in they can kiss and ...stuff?"

"Yes, _Rosamynd_, they can kiss and stuff." The archer replied stiffly, then let a quick, loose giggle. Rosamynd frowned sadly.

"Huh. It never crossed my mind."

**~END OF CHAPTER 7~**


	8. Chapter 8

yay ;) So this is Chapter 8 of our story and well, I hope you like it amanda ;) And, yes, Trudian is canon (y) 3 haha ;) ye ~ isar, steph and mee {saima}

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**Chapter 8 ~ Lysandra**

After Elektra and Rosamynd went off, Lysandra was stuck walking with Enryx, alone. A few minutes passed - it felt like hours. Enryx broke the silence. "Lysandra? Can we talk?"

"Uh, sure!"

"I don't know, it seems like you have been avoiding me, an-"

"Avoiding you? _Me? _Me avoiding _you?_" Lysandra spat out sarcastically, stopping abruptly to turn around and stare at Enryx. "I'm sorry- was _I _the one who spent _ages _hanging out at the Aphrodite Table, while the rest of my friends- my _only _friends- were hanging out alone. I'm _so, so _sorry." She turned back and started walking forward frustrated, only stopping when she heard Enryx running after her.

"Lysandra! Lys!"

"What?" She said, not turning to face him.

"Look, I wa-" Once again he was cut off, but this time by the 'pitter-patter' of the rain falling gently on their shoulders, and heads.

"Argh," Enryx groaned, and Lysandra giggled to herself, forgetting all about their fight.

"Look I'm sorry that I was ignoring you, I just didn't know what to say to you, after... you know."

"Yes, I know- after you being all sexist."

"I'm sorry, okay?" He said, resignedly putting his hands up in a sign of surrender. "I know it was stupid, and I was a jerk, okay. I'm sorry!" Lysandra scoffed, looking away from him. Enryx brushed his fingers through his hair, then started again. "And I should not have said that girls can't fight, hunt or protect themselves." Lysandra turned to look at him, her death glare calming down. "Because they _can _hunt, and fight, okay?"

"Okay." Lysandra subtly replied, looking down.

"Alright," He smiled, and Lysandra unwillingly felt her heart melt. She missed being best friends with him. She missed him, period- and she couldn't help but turn around then lean in and hug him, awkwardly. He was surprised at first, but he recovered and returned the hug.

"Oh, Lys... I- Elektra and I missed you," Lysandra felt Enryx murmur softly against the crown of her head.

She smiled and replied, "I missed you guys, too."

"Once again, I'm sorry, can you please forgive me?" Lysandra nodded and smiled, then pulled away from the warm embrace.

"Awl!" She heard a voice behind her, and reluctantly turned around.

"Rosamynd!" Lys exclaimed.

"Are you guys together as well?"

"No, um...we're not together." Enryx hastily stepped away from Lysandra, who felt a pang of sadness.

"Why not? You guys make a cute couple!" Elektra followed behind the ginger godling, her eyes leaning in satisfaction. Lysandra smiled grew wider, a bubble of laughter threatening to burst out of her.

"Well, we're just friends," Enryx's cheeks flamed up, moving away further from Lysandra.

"Yeah. Just friends." Lysandra added quickly.

"Well, _we_ are more than friends," Adrian said, appearing at the edge of the hill, holding hands with Trudy, who was wearing a huge grin on her face.

"Oh, are we now?" Trudy said, laughing at him.

Rosamynd looked away, earning concerned glances from Lysandra and Elektra. Trudy had her now wet dark-brown hair up in a ponytail, with a white rose tucked in behind her ear.

"We should find shelter," Elektra looked up at the sky, "It's raining pretty hard." Everyone else nodded and followed her towards the camp.

By the time they got back their camp, dinner was about to begin and they were soaked in rain and their shoes and the hems of their pants were caked with mud.

"This is why it's such a pain to go outside boundaries," Adrian complained, "No more perfect weather."

"Whatever," Lysandra shrugged, " I don't mind the rain..." Lysandra looked bewilderedly at the surrounding five godlings, who were staring at her with an extremely confused expression on their face. "What?! The rain is calming!"

"So piercing sharp stings on your skin is calming? You're the goddess of cats, for goodness sake!" Rosamynd shot back incredulously.

Lysandra shrugged, "Feline creatures, actually. I'm the goddess of Feline Creatures."

"...Isn't that the same?"

"No."

"But, it-"

"No_._"

The mess hall doors opened up and the godlings ran into the vast room, thankful for the dryness and shelter. Lysandra sat with her few cabin mates, generally disinterested in their conversation and busying herself in feeding little Annie, much to the disliking of her brother, Aaron - though he was too busy studying his magic book. There was a sudden yelp from Annie.

"Ahh!"

"What is it, Annie?"

"Mwy toof! Its bwoken!" Annie cried, sobbing slightly pointing at her mouth.

"What? Say Ahh!" Lysandra gently cupped her hand under Annie's chin as Annie opened her mouth up wide. "Which tooth?" Annie pointed to one of her front teeth.

"It's not broken, sweetie, it's just wobbly!"

"Cwan you fwix it wiv mwagic?"

Lysandra was taken aback by Annie's magical request but laughed. "It's not fixable, Annie. It's a sign that you're growing up! Besides, the tooth fairy will visit you in your sleep and leave you a special something!"

Annie squealed in delight, giggling happily and scooping a big spoon of ice cream. Lysandra smiled and patted the young demigod's head fondly, and got up to take a walk.

"Where you going?" Annie asked, her mouth full of ice cream as Lys stood up.

"To take a walk!" Lysandra replied, stooping down and ruffling Annie's hair "I'll be back, okay?"

"Okay." Annie frowned, scooping up more ice cream, scorching up next to her older brother.

She was in high spirits when she stepped out onto the cool, fresh evening air. The rain had slowed into a slight drizzle. This was the worst kind - sharp and cold, splattering down your face in patches, and not just completely drenching you, which was the way Lys preferred it. Regardless, she kept walking, wanting to catch the sun before it sunk into the broad horizon._ It's so peaceful here. _Lysandra stopped at the crest of Half Blood Hill, leaning against the pine tree but staying a safe distance from the dragon, soaking in the last rays of sunlight. Just like that, the light disappeared behind the valley. Lysandra stared up at the moon, tranced by it's cold beauty._ I wonder how many moons it has been since I left..._

Lysandra stiffened, her keen ears picking up activity beyond the border. She dove into the bush, keeping out of sight. There were slashing sounds coming from over the clump of trees about ten feet away from her. She peeked her head out, and right next to the pine tree, there was someone hacking away at the border. Lysandra reached into her bag and slipped her dagger into her hand, trying really hard not to make a sound. Without warning, an arrow whistled towards her face. Lysandra had barely any time to react; she leapt up from her hiding place and charged at the border, completely forgetting about the immortals-need-permission-to-cross-borders rule. The person, who Lysandra now identified as a girl around her own age, looked at her with a cold expression. A symbol that was scribbled on her body was glowing, and Lysandra was thrown backwards, crashing into some bushes.

"Are you crazy?" The girl hissed at Lys, "if you cross that border, neither of us can get in!"

"Oh," realization stuck Lysandra, "You're a godling, aren't you?"

"Who are you anyway?"

"Who are _you?" _Lysandra interrogated the mysterious person, who was threading a long bow staff back into the sheath strapped to her back.

"I asked you first!"

"Well you're the one trying to get into Camp Half-Blood!"

"Just let me in and I'll explain!"

"What if I can't trust you?"

"You're going to have to wait and see," The godling scowled, "Just let me in!"

Lysandra smirked, "First, your name?"

The intruder's frown grew deeper. "Vytoni," She spat, "Vytoni Skia, Daughter of Morpheus and Hecate."

"Wait," Lysandra blinked confusedly, "_You're _a daughter of Hecate? I thought I knew all my siblings!"

"Well, obviously you don't!" Vytoni smiled a cold, hard smile, "And I'm surprised you didn't figure that out. That must have been your first experience of combat magic."

"Woah," Lysandra breathed, "I've read about combat magic! Wow, I'm surprised I haven't figured that out either."

"You should see what else it can do - That was nothing. I'm better at handling weaponry, though," Vytoni shrugged, then scowled again, "And are you going to let me through or not?"

"Oh, right. Sorry," Lysandra quickly muttered an entry permit and let the other godling in. When the girl fully stepped into the moonlight, Lysandra was able to see her properly. She had symbols and runes scribbled all over her, but what struck Lysandra was all those... weapons. There were around five _visible_ ones, and they all looked very painful. Very, very painful.

"So, uh," Lys swallowed uncertainly, "Do you want me to show you where the Hecate cabin is?"

"Yeah, whatever," Vytoni shrugged, and they started for the cabins, where Lys saw the crowd dispersing after those campfire songs and activities. They quietly slipped past the crowd and walked to cabin 20. Vytoni flung her small knapsack of things onto one of the bunks and looked around, occasionally picking things up for a closer look.

"It's kind of neat here, isn't it," Lysandra was the first one to break the silence.

Vytoni murmured her agreement, still being generally unwilling to strike up a conversation, much to Lys' frustration.

"Wyssie!" Lysandra turned and looked down to see Annie running towards her. She bent down to give her a warm embrace. She pulled away and laughed - Annie had ice cream all over her face.

"She was worried about you," Aaron gruffed, "So I had to bring her back here. Who is this?" His beady narrowed at the sight of the newcomer. Vytoni ignored him and continued unpacking the load in her knapsack.

"Um...she's our sister!"

"Oh, gods! Mum has got to stop breeding!" Aaron complained, rolling eyes. The cabin counsellor, who had just walked in, gagged and turned to go back outside. Lysandra couldn't help but roll her eyes. _What a drama queen._ Annie giggled, and pretty soon, Lys was laughing with her. Vytoni and Annie's brother just stared at them as if they'd gone mad._ Maybe I am._

Pretty soon, everyone else from cabin 20 had come and settled in. Fondly, Lysandra thought about how they seemed like family to her now, even though the feeling probably wasn't mutual - except for maybe Annie.

"Stowy Time!" Annie announced. Everyone groaned- Lysandra chose a fairy-tale from their bookshelf and sat next to the toddler who was perched in her little beanbag next to her bed.

"Story time?" Vytoni asked.

"We all take turns to tell a story to Annie and the others," Aaron explained, "Every night."

They finished the story in time for the magic torches outside the cabin to go out, as it always did at curfew. After the story, everyone rushed to their beds but Annie was left struggling to get onto hers. Aaron helped her, tucked her in and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. Lysandra put down her book, and curled up in bed. The cabin was dark except for the little light coming from the moon, which only Lysandra's feline eyes could make out. She was about to close her eyes, when something caught her eye. She squinted at Vytoni's bedside, where something silver was glinting. She hid a gasp of surprise, cautious not wake anyone. Very slowly, she got out of bed and creeped up to the twinkling object. She held it up so she can see it more clearly. _It can't be._

"If your thoughts can speak for themselves, they would reflect your exact expression." Lysandra whirled around and saw Vytoni, who was not asleep, but reading a book. She suddenly felt shameful.

"Look," Lysandra frantically sought for a way to get herself out of this mess, "I don't normally look through other people's stuff. I just... That circlet just seems familiar."

"It is," Vytoni gave Lysandra a sort of piteous smile, "I am lieutenant of Artemis' Hunt. You can say... I replaced you."

All at once, Lysandra felt the wind get knocked out of her. She managed a small, _"Oh,"_ before faking a smile and stumbling back to bed. She collapsed back onto her bunk, deep into her thoughts.

_It was inevitable. I should have seen it coming._

_She has replaced me._

**_~~~END OF CHAPTER 8~~~_**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 ~ Adrian**

After dinner, Adrian went straight to Cabin 5 and brought his camping bag he had brought with him but never got a chance to unpack it. He rummaged through his bag, throwing stuff out and dumping it onto his bunk. _Why did I bring so much stuff?_ Adrian complained in his mind, then laughed at his stupidity. He had basically thrown every single item that belonged to him into his rucksack, minus the stuff that couldn't fit. _I guess I like it here more._ He tossed out everything inside his bag out onto the floor and bed. The cabin was a mess right now.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the heavy wooden doors- and Trudy was there, smiling teasingly at him. Adrian beckoned her in, smiling back at her, and chucked his camping bag into an open wardrobe, banging it shut.

"Hey there," Trudy greeted walking into the Ares cabin, picking her way around the mess and tiptoeing around the food stains in the rough rug, "Need a little help?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"I can see that!" Trudy said, gingerly picking up a pair of boxers that was lying on the floor. Adrian blushed in embarrassment, and quickly grabbed it then stuffed it into an empty drawer.

"Gods, this room is a mess," Trudy and Adrian commented at the same time. They both looked at each other awkwardly, then laughed.

"Do you just want to step outside?" Adrian asked, gesturing towards the sandy beach view from his window, "We could take a walk."

"Why not?" Trudy shrugged and followed him out.

"So... how did the Aphrodite girls take it when Chiron told them?"

"They were a little shocked but I'm sure they got over it, at least I hope they did."

"Are they treating you well?

"Aw, you big, concerning guy! Yes, they are- because after all, they are my sisters. And they knew me before I told them, so you know and I'm not any different."

"Half sisters, technically." Adrian couldn't help but correct. Trudy nodded and took his hand. They started walking, feet in sync, to the campfire. They headed towards the ocean that lapped against the cold sand.

"So uh... there's some sort of dance and firework show thing in around a month, do you know about it?"

"Yeah...I've heard of it."

"Um, well. I was thinking that maybe, well, we could like... um."

"Spit it out, Adrian" Trudy laughed.

"Right. Well, wouldyouliketogotothedancewithme?" Adrian rushed, looking down.

"The dance... with you?" Trudy blushed, "Of course!"

"You will? Really, you will?" Adrian looked up, eyes wide in shock and delight.

"Yes, Adrian, of course I will." She said, excitedly jumping up and down with him. Adrian smiled at her and embraced her with a warm hug.

"Wow, Trudy. You are amazing" He whispered, pulling gently away from her to look at her eyes. They were an amazing swirl of colors, amber tinged with blues and greens, even turquoise. Somehow, he knew that was her true color, not just some charm or magical Aphrodite genes. Her hair was back to it's original blonde color with a hint of brown. He leaned his face down to hers and his lips were on hers. A lingering, fumbled moment, long enough to enjoy it. They sprang apart, both blushing furiously. The moon beamed down on them, reflecting off the white sand. Adrian couldn't look away once he met her eyes. He wrapped his arms around Trudy's slim waist. She did the same around his neck.

"Adrian, I-" Trudy blinked uncertainly.

"That was..." Adrian searched for the comfort of her eyes.

"That was amazing" Trudy whispered on his lips. "And unexpected."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that" He said, scratching his head.

"Don't be! I like surprises" Trudy smiled and kissed him once more. This kiss lasted longer than the previous, and was much more intense. This time it was Adrian who was surprised, but his lips softened and relaxed against hers. They pulled away slowly and looked at each other for a brief second and smiled, with both of their cheeks burning red.

"So," Trudy was fumbling for words, still blushing furiously. Adrian smiled and pressed a finger to her lips.

"Shh..." They sat down on the cooling sand under a tree, "For now, just enjoy the night."

Adrian sat up against a tree trunk with Trudy next to him, wrapping an arm around her waist as he grinned at her. Trudy smiled back in return, looking up at the moon which pulsed in the dark, velvety sky. Trudy rested her head onto Adrian's shoulder as Adrian leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

He drifted off to a light doze, aware of his surroundings, just to make sure they wouldn't get caught. But he soon grew tired and decided to get comfortable in the sand and let deep slumber claim him.

_He was running through the woods, pounding behind a girl who was sprinting, trying to get away from whatever was behind him. He could hear the girl panting - she must've been running for quite a while. The girl would occasionally look back behind her with a frightened expression. Adrian looked behind him as well, prepared to be looking into the face of a horrid hag. But instead he saw nothing, just the trees closing in behind him. He looked towards the girl again, curious of what she was running away from, they reached a bottom of a cliff that looked pretty steep at the bottom. The brunette girl clambered up the cliff with difficulty, panting and sweating. Adrian climbed up after her. He tried to yell at her, question her on what she was running away from. He opened his mouth but all that came out was a deep snarl. The girl squealed and climbed up the cliff in hurry. Adrian caught hold of her ankle, unwilling to want to let go. The girl shook her leg, clearly hoping to shake his hand off. The girl kicked at Adrian's nose. He howled in pain - for few seconds, all Adrian could see were shapes and colors. Suddenly Adrian was full of rage, rage he had never felt before in his entire life. Adrian raced towards the clambering girl, and grabbed hold of her ankle once more and did something he would've never done, ever. He bit into the back of the girl's calf as she reached the edge of the cliff. The girl screamed in agony as he continued biting into her calf flesh. But the girl kicked at Adrian under the chin which snapped his head back and Adrian tumbled down the cliff side, smacking onto the ground face first._

Adrian woke up, panting and sweating. Trudy was still on his shoulder sleeping peacefully, smiling in her slumber. She stirred and flopped onto the sand, and instantly awoke. Adrian panicked and pretended to still be asleep against the tree bark. Trudy was shaking him awake. Adrian woke slowly and rubbed his eyes.

"What time is it?" Adrian groaned.

"I can see you're not a morning person. I don't know what time it is but we should get back to the cabins before people realize," Trudy said softly, standing up and brushing the sand off her legs. Adrian nodded and stood up too.

He quickly ran into the waves and stood there, so the waves could rinse the sand off his legs. But all of a sudden a boy, a little older than him, came up to the shore - His clothes were barely wet. Adrian gaped at him and the boy noticed The boy -obviously a son of Poseidon- made quick swift movement with his hand and a wave splashed onto Adrian's legs. Adrian nodded a quick thank you to the boy and the boy ran off.

"Ugh!" He grimaced, he realized that his shoes were wet from the water. Adrian trudged back over to Trudy who was still having trouble wiping off the sand of her body. "We should head back!"

"Of course." Trudy said, grabbing hold of Adrian's hand. They both started walking back towards the cabins. "I look like a mess - sandy skin, and my hair is a big tingly bush! Sometimes I hate being a daughter of Hephaestus as well."

"I think you look lovely!" Adrian complemented, stopping before reaching the cabins where they were unnoticeable. Adrian pulled Trudy in for another kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly. Trudy kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"You two are in so much trouble."

The couple instantly sprang apart and turned to face the person who spoke. She was in her pajamas - flannel pants and a worn out Hello Kitty t-shirt. Her ginger hair swept up into a high ponytail.

"Er...I'll go back to my cabin," Trudy said awkwardly giving Adrian a quick peck on the lips before running off. Adrian looked at Rosamynd, who was purposely looking away.

"Listen, Rosie, uh, can you not tell anyone about this? Please?" Adrian pleaded. Rosamynd hesitated, her hands behind her back looking down at her feet.

"Fine," Rosamynd gave in and sighed.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" Adrian said relieved.

"See you at breakfast." Rosamynd grunted and stormed off. Adrian ran back to his cabin, quickly showered and got dressed into something decent that he thought would impress Trudy. He tried something new and tried to put gel in his hair, but concluded into his hair getting all sticky and spiky. He groaned and washed the gel out of his hair. He gave up soon enough and just sprayed deodorant on himself and walked out. He headed to the breakfast hall , keeping an eye out for Trudy and the rest of his friends.

On the way to breakfast, he thought about the dream he had last night about the girl and him. How he bit into her flesh, her cry of agony and the snarl._ It couldn't have been real! I couldn't even imagine biting into someone's leg, I can barely bite into an apple._ A demigod barged into his shoulder, interrupting his thoughts about the dream. He decided to shake it off and just have some breakfast. He spotted Lysandra far along the stoned path, holding Annie's hand and talking to her. He waved at her but she didn't see him. Next to her was a girl with a blank expression, reading a book as she walked. She was a new girl, and must have been a friend of Lysandra's. She had dark hair- tied up in a bun- and some sorts of tattoo's of all patterns and shapes upon her skin. Lysandra bent down to Annie's height and whispered something in her ear. Moments later, Annie let go of the Godling's hand and ran towards her brother, who was walking along with his friends. She and the new girl started walking towards the Big House. Adrian rushed over to them.

"Where are you going and who's this?" Adrian asked, gesturing at Lys' friend.

"That's rude." The new girl frowned at Adrian, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry, introduce yourself then!"

"I'm Vytoni Skia- Daughter of Hecate and Morpheus. I am -well, was- a Hunter of Artemis," She flickered a smile, as if she was tired of being so polite. "Oh- and I am the goddess of Weaponry and Symbolism... it might just explain all those runes on my skin. Don't worry - they're not tattoos."

"You're a godling too!?" Adrian remarked.

"Yes. Now who are you?"

"Me? I am Adrian. Adrian Belikov - God of Ares and Nemesis and Son of Balance!" Adrian said in a posh accent, messing up his titles. He puffed up his chest and tried to look proud and almighty.

"Don't you mean Son of Ares and Nemesis and God of Balance?" Lysandra corrected.

"What-?" Said Adrian, taken back surprise. "I said that."

"No," Vytoni said in a deadpan tone, reading her book as if the conversation was the most boring thing ever.

"Adrian, there you are!" Trudy's familiar voice rang out. He turned and Trudy ran over to him, and alongside her were Rosamynd and Elektra.

"Enryx, get over here! We found them!" Elektra yelled across the courtyard to Enryx who was kicking pebbles away and stepping on bugs. Everyone was gathered around, whispering among themselves. Adrian knew they were wondering who Vytoni was.

"So," Enryx started, looking nervously at the new girl. _She does scare people. Its probably all those sharp stuff she carries._ He could see her dagger sticking out of her pocket and_ -is that three?_- swords hanging from her belt. Slung across her back was a quiver full of arrows. Threaded behind that was an ebony staff. _Man, this girl is lethal. Wouldn't want to get on her bad side._

"Care to introduce us to each other?" Trudy smiled warmly at the newcomer, who returned a lifeless one. _Ah, well. No harm in trying._

"Um, This is Vytoni, my half sister!" Lysandra gestured to Vytoni who looked up from reading her book. The gang said their welcomes and hello's, staring strangely at the new girl. "She's a godling as well!"

"Your shoelace is untied." Vytoni said blankly, looking at Enryx's shoes, "Tie it."

"What?" Enryx said, blinking furiously, then looked down, "Oh. Right." But the shoelaces were already in the midst of tying itself.

"You were too slow." Vytoni drawled slowly, "and I grew impatient."

"Wow, you use a bow and arrow too!" Elektra blurted out suddenly, interested in the new girl. Vytoni nodded and went back to her book.

"Oh," Adrian had a brainwave as he recollected who Vytoni's parents were and his dream, "Vyt. Can I call you Vyt? I need a small favor."

"No, you can't call me_ Vyt_," Vyt -_too late, its stuck_ - grimaced at the nickname, "And yeah. Shoot."

"Do you mind if we talk in private?" Adrian asked. The others looked on, weirded out by the sudden request. Vytoni shrugged, slipping her book into her bag. They headed out of hearing range from the others.

"What's this about? I haven't got all day," Vytoni sighed, crossing her arms.

"Well, uh." Adrian cleared his throat, suddenly aware of how strange the dream was, how weird it would sound, "Long story short, Last night I had a dream and-"

"Why are you telling me this? I haven't got any time for fairy tales."

"Because you're the daughter of Morpheus." He replied stiffly, ignoring the last statement. "Anyways, I dreamed about me and this girl. I was chasing her through a forest, and I don't know why she was afraid of me. She kept looking back at me, while I was chasing her and she had a worried expression. Then we came to the bottom of a cliff. The girl started climbing, so I followed, but then she tried to fight me. I gave this loud snarl, almost evil. And -this is the weird part- I bit her. I bit her in her calf. She kicked me off the cliff, and just when I fell, then woke up."

Vyt though for some time, which made Adrian starting to grow impatient, but she finally replied. "It's obvious you were not you in the dream. You must have been experiencing through someone else's view. And since you bit her, you snarled and she was scared of you- you were probably a monster - or whatever she was running from. Oh, and it probably happened. That girl? She's injured somewhere now." She looked him in the eye, searching for signs of hesitation, "Are you going to try and find her?"

"So, it was real? It can't be!"

"Its real, dimwit. Keep up."

Adrian stared at her, neither backing away, "And yes, I will try and find her. It is up to you on whether or not you follow."

"Is that a challenge?" Vytoni raised her eyebrows, and her eyes glimmered - the first sign of life in them since her met her- and she replied, "I will accompany you."

"Great! Let's go to tell the others," He paused to grimace " about, you know. Her." They went to the others, who were all keen on knowing what they were discussing about.

"Wait, are you gonna tell us what's going on or not?" Lysandra burst out, obviously eager to know. The others agreed and urged Adrian and Vyt to tell.

"Well, Vytoni and I," He saw Vytoni glare at the mention of her new nickname, but he ignored her and continued, " We have decided to go on a mission to save-"

He was interrupted by the hooves of the centaur. Chiron trotted out of the heavy Big House doors.

"Why are you all clumped outside of the Big House? And Adrian, a word, please." Adrian gulped as Lysandra started explaining urgently about Vytoni.

"Okay, Lysandra. I will talk to you and Vytoni in a second- just after I speak to Mr. Belikov." He motioned Adrian to follow him to another place, a place were they could not hear.

"Now, Adrian, I am deeply sorry that I was eavesdropping on your conversation with the your friends, but what mission are you talking about?"

"Well, I had a dream about a girl- and we need to save her, now!" Adrian said.

_**~END OF CHAPTER 9~**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10 ~Rosamynd~**_

After Adrian finished talking to Chiron, Lysandra walked over to him, Vytoni in tow. They walked into the Big House, leaving Rosamynd and the others alone outside.

"Holy Mother of Gods!" Elektra gasped. "My healing kit!"

Being reminded, everyone starting rushing around, grabbing their weapons and everything they thought they needed as Elektra and Enryx sprinted off to their cabin.

"Adrian- where exactly was this girl?" Trudy asked him, helping him pick up his battle gear.

"I don't know, somewhere in the woods. Oh- there was a cliff as well."

"Well, that's informative," Rosamynd said, rolling her eyes, from behind Adrian.

Elektra ran back down from her cabin, her own quiver of silver arrows and bow slung on her back and her pouch of healing herbs dangling from her belt. Enryx was alongside her, his quiver full of goldarrows and bow slung from his back as well.

"So where are we going exactly, Adrian?" asked Enryx.

"Er.. I don't know?" He looked at the weird glances from everyone. Just then, Chiron came out, followed by Vytoni and Lysandra.

"I have arranged Lysandra, Elektra and Vytoni to go with you to save the girl in the woods. _Only _those four" He added, eyeing Enryx's bow and arrows.

"What? No fair!" and "Yeah! I want to come as well." - Indigent responses from the others.

"Excuse me! What I said is final- I will need you guys for something else. Now go eat breakfast, all of you- the mess hall is almost closing," Chiron said sternly. "Please! Not you four- you have to go save the girl- she must be severely injured."

"We will eat when we come back!" Adrian told the others.

"But we don't where to go!" Said Elektra. Chiron turned to look at Adrian.

"You will know when you reach there," He said smiling, earning one back for each of them.

"Bye, guys!" Said Rosamynd suddenely. Everyone turned around and eyed her, and Rosamynd blushed slightly.

"Oh! Bye, Rosie," Said Lysandra.

"Yeah! Bye!" replied Elektra. Once they were gone, Rosamynd and the others went to get breakfast, only to be greeted by people piling up empty plates, all the food gone.

"What? What are going to do... I'M SO HUNGRY!" Enryx complained.

"Oh, stop being so overdramatic, Enryx! It's not like we're going to die without one surviving of food throughout the day" Rosamynd scolded.

"But breakfast is the most important meal of the day," Enryx replied, his lip quivering.

"Oi! Stop with the puppy-dog face - anyways, what can _I _do about it?" came Rosamynd's reply, as she playfully hit his arm.

"But, honestly, I really am hungry," Trudy commented, from Rosamynd's left.

They jogged up to the hall, where demigods were running out. There were stains on their shirts and food in their mouths and all over their faces. One crashed into Enryx, who held the messy eater and arm's length and questions him, "What's going on?"

"You'll love this," The camper's eyes shined with excitement, "It's time for capture the flag!"

"Capture the what?" Rosamynd's eyes followed the hyper camper, who was jumping up and down, " Slow down!"

But he already took off, joining his friends who were crowding around the armoury.

The three godlings looked and one another, unsure about what do.

"This will be fun," Trudy muttered, fishing out her dagger, which was tucked inside her belt.

"Yeah it will!" Enryx whooped, grabbing their arms and dragging them towards the armoury along with the sea of other demigods. Rosamynd chose the lightest armor, relying on speed,agility and comfort, instead of facing them head on. The red team were cabins 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18 and 19._ Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Athena, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hypnos, Nemesis, Hebe and Tyche. _Rosamynd looked at Trudy, then at blue team, which was _Hera, Demeter, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hades, Iris, and Hecate, _was now opposing them.

The crowd separated to two, blue team and red team. The demigods put on their 'warrior faces', ready to battle the opposing team.

Rosamynd nudged Trudy, on her right. "So I'm guessing you know how to play this- right?" Trudy nodded. "Then spit it out."

But Trudy's face hadn't changed since the moment the camper boy said, "Capture the flag."

"Trudy? Is this really scary, then? Is that why your face looks like you swallowed a bug?"

"What? No!" Trudy said, turning to face Rosie. "It's just because- well, I _have _only played once, and the last time- I - well, my bracelet came off, so I faked an injury to get off the field. But yes, I know the rules."

Rosamynd nodded in concern, but then repeated exactly what she said before- same tone and everything. "Then spit it out!"

Trudy patiently explained the rules to Rosamynd and Enryx, who had ambled over, complaining that the others were boring. When Trudy finally finished explaining the rules and such to the Rosamynd and Enryx, most demigods had already left to gather outside. The three godlings hastily picked their armors and weapons - Rosamynd choosing a sharp knife and a smaller dagger, Trudy with her spear and shield, also hiding a dagger in her belt and Enryx, who put his golden bow in his quiver with his arrows, obviously taking a sniper's front. Rosamynd and Trudy donned their bronze helmets with a red plume, while Enryx took one with a blue plume.

They split ways, Enryx going for defence, keeping his team's flag in his eyesight. Trudy, Rosamynd and most of their team went for attack, while about five demigods remained with red team's flag to defend. They strategized their attack and defence. Half of their campers were going to be combative and elemental demigods who would drive in and attack the blue team. The other half would roughly stay in the middle and slow the attackers down. Rosamynd was part of the middle bunch, while Trudy was part of the first wave.

The horn blew signalling that the game had begun. Rosamynd stayed back, looking around and noticing that she knew some of her fellow campers with her. There was one of her new half-sisters, Megan;Jillian_, _a girl she trained her earthly powers with; and another new demigod she occasionally talked to - Carter.

She could hear the sound of celestial bronze against celestial bronze, the clashing of swords and spears. A group of around seven demigods charged towards them, their weapons at the ready. With help from Jillian, Rosamynd made a tree trunk fall down in front of them - The demigods crashed into them, which left Rosamynd plenty of time to trap them in thorns and vines. Rosamynd instantly felt bad for them and wanted to let them go, but she cleared that idea out of her head and concentrated on other movements and sounds around them.

Suddenly there was a whole wave of demigods rushing in. _This must be their attack group. How stupid to send them all in at once! _Rosamynd made the leaves on the overhanging trees to all fall and swirl around them at once to block their vision, as the other nine demigods from the red team ambushed them from behind.

"Rosamynd, Jillian! Drive in!" Carter took over, giving the rights orders and making the right decisions. They were going great, until-

_WHACK! _ Rosamynd felt the hard wood of a club beat that back of her head. She fell to the ground instantly, dazed from the sudden hit. She rubbed her eyes so she could see clearly - the person who hit her was maybe a son of Hephaestus, or Hermes. Rosamynd forced herself to find the energy to jab a long heavy branch into the attacker's stomach, which made him groan and fall backwards. Rosamynd got up quickly and jogged cautiously towards the direction of the opposing team's flag. She stopped in view of a blue banner. _It's right over there- I have gotten so close to it. If I take it, my team will win, and us godlings will finally be accepted._ She was about to grab the flag but an arrow flew right in front of her nose. The arrow came from the bushes, on the other side. Rosamynd turned to look at who shot it - Enryx.

"Ha, you were _this _close to getting it," Enryx said, making an indication with his fingers, "But no more!"

During this, Rosamynd noticed a boy, a little older than her, who sprinted behind her, running over to the direction of the flag- Enryx was oblivious to this. The boy made for the flag - he almost had it when another of Enryx's arrows sliced against his back. Although the arrow glanced back from his armor, the boy arched his back in pain but stood up again quickly. The boy growled in annoyance and he put his hands far behind his back, waiting for a few minutes. Rosamynd watched as Enryx took another arrow out of his quiver and notched it into his bow. She summoned a rock, and just when Enryx was about to shoot, she threw the rock in the air, blocking his arrow. The arrow hit the rock, and bounced back off. The boy smacked his hands forward into a loud clap and a huge wave of water washed over Enryx. The archer was pushed backwards, crashing against a tree trunk and lay there, unconscious.

Rosamynd ran forward towards the boy and the flag, back but before she knew it another arrow whistled past her ear, aiming for the camper's hand as he reached for the flag.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" The boy yelled, barely dodging the arrow. He pushed Rosamynd to the ground.

Enryx swore in a foreign language, which sounded like the word "_cactus"_. The boy- obviously a son of Poseidon- paused for a moment, taking in the word, then shook himself out of his trance. As Enryx reached behind his back for another arrow, the boy jumped forward and grabbed the flag, shouting in victory.

Suddenly, the foghorns blew, and the rest of Rosamynd's team came into the scene. They all started cheering and hugging the boy. Trudy came as well, and even though there was a gash on her face and her clothes were a little ripped, she looked perfect as always. Rosamynd felt a little envious, but she couldn't help but smile because her team won.

"Hey! I know that boy, I don't know how, but I do!" Trudy said, gasping. "Oh, wait! I remember- it was when..." she trailed off, blushing.

"When what, _Gertrude?_" Rosamynd asked, nudging her on.

"I'd rather not say," Trudy mumbled, looking down as her face turned an interesting shade of scarlet.

"Aw, come on!" Rosamynd whined. Just then, Chiron's voice rang out through the enclosed set of woodland. Everyone turned to face the centaur who was galloping towards the mass of campers.

"Congratulations to the Red Team for winning today's Capture the Flag!" The centaur praised the beaming crowd of winners. The losing team grumbled, but applauded politely.

All the campers returned to the their cabins area, planning to rest and/or spend the rest of their day lounging around, visiting the medical bay and basically unwinding after the tense tournament before the celebratory campfire circle begins. Rosamynd, Trudy and Enryx headed for the medical bay, keen on mending their injuries.

"So we win," Rosamynd taunted, smiling sickly sweet, "In your face." She said, snapping her fingers in a Z formation, laughing afterwards.

"Hey, _hey!_ Watch the face," Enryx frowned angrily.

"You're just upset 'cause you're a _sore loser!_" Enryx rolled his eyes and mumbled something incoherently.

On the way, They passed many demigods, who were either fuming in anger or grinning at their success. They arrived at the medical bay, where there was a cluster of injured demigods waiting for treatment. Among them was the son of Poseidon, who had a horribly bruised back , where Enryx's arrow had shot him earlier. Rosamynd walked up to him, pushing through a mass of demigod admirers.

"Hi," She finally made her way to him, and stuck her hand out. He shook it, and replied a simple _Hi_.

"Thanks for... you know. Winning for us." She said.

He smiled, "It was a team effort. I'm Kyle, by the way."

"Rosamynd." She said, returning the smile.

"Look, I know everyone is all happy and stuff," Enryx came bumbling over._ What an idiot,_ "But, I really need me some medicine. I know I'm a son of Apollo, and thats amazing, but I suck at healing."

They laughed, and Kyle smiled at her again, "I'm a Son of Poseidon, by the way."

"I figured."

"You're a _godling._"

"Yeah, I'm a daughter of Hermes and Hebe."

"But, like, this is Camp Half-Blood. You can't come here," He said, his face darkening. _Obviously, Kyle is one of those 'dim-witted' guys. _"I'm joking!You should have seen the look on your face." He laughed, and Rosamynd found herself laughing along with him._ Not that dumb, actually. He isn't so bad after all. _

Kyle turned to Enryx, who was sulking at the lack of attention he was receiving, "Aren't you the archer who shot me?"

"Yeah, sorry about that, man." He said, not looking that sorry. "Just got carried away, you know?"

"Not really."

"Oh."

Kyle was looking at Enryx strangely, as if he was an alien, "You said something weird back then... you swore, but in a different language - Latin, am I right?"

Rosamynd looked at Enryx, then back at her new friend," What? Enryx, is there something you're hiding from us?"

"Fine," He sighed in resignation, then turned and beckoned to Trudy, who came over, her eyebrows furrowing in worry, "Yes Kyle- It was Latin."

"Wait. What was latin?" asked Trudy, after exchanging hellos with the demigods.

"I accidently spoke in Latin during capture the flag," Enrys explained, "Because Latin is kinda my native tongue."

The other three stared at the Godling in question, who was not meeting their eyes. Rosamynd was the first to break the uncomfortable silence, "So... You're Roman?"

"Uh," He swallowed nervously, "Yeah. Well, I if you don't tell anyone about this."

"Sure," They chorused, concern lining their faces.

The three looked at him silently, before Trudy broke the silent, "I wonder if they have found the girl in Ady's dream"

"What? Did you just call Adrian_ 'Ady_'?" Enryx asked.

"No."

"Yeah, you just-"

"No."

"Yes, you did."

"Oh my gods, just cut it out already!" Rosamynd sighed exasperatedly. She was about to continue scolding him, but she was abruptly cut off by Trudy gasping in the background.

"Holy Hephaestus! Who is that?!"

_**~ END OF CHAPTER 10 ~**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 ~ Lysandra**

Lysandra jogged in stony silence alongside Vytoni, who was talking quietly to Elektra and Adrian, who was lagging behind because of he was carrying the girl they just rescued. Adrian was caught sight of Trudy, smiled and tried to wave but stumbled, almost dropping the girl.

Trudy rushed over, her eyes full of concern and astonishment, crying out, "Holy Hephaestus! Who is that?!"

_~*~ 3 hours ago ~*~_

The four godlings chosen for this mini-quest were sprinting towards the woods. Lysandra was trying to pinpoint the girl's location with Vytoni, who was looking for signs of a fight. Elektra tried a more logical approach, listening out for the sea, while Adrian just tried to recall his surroundings in the dream, looking for a match to their scenery.

"Hair," Lysandra noted the strands of light brown hair in the nettle patches. Vytoni reported scratch marks on some tree barks. Adrian looked at the hair strands and confirmed that it was hair from the girl in his dream.

"Some part of a fabric" Elektra commented, reaching out for a cloth on the tree bunk. "It's dark coloured, kind of hard to spot."

"Yep. She was wearing navy pants," Adrian said, "She must still be here, somewhere around a few metres, maybe."

Lysandra noticed the soft, damp footprints of the monster trekking in the mud. It was still fresh, which meant the girl must be close.

"I hear the sea - which means we're near a cliff to a beach," Vytoni looked towards a parting in a clump of trees, "We're here." She looked at Adrian for confirmation, and he nodded, his face pale and taut with worry.

Lysandra ran ahead, looking for signs of activity from humans. They reached an edge of the cliff, looking for the poor victim. _I wonder what's her story?_

"Wait, I think I see something!" Adrian sprinted across the grassy ground, heading for a small silhouette far away, with Lysandra and the others following anxiously. They reached a mangled body, her long wavy hair covering her deathly pale face. Elektra dropped down onto the floor next to her, and immediately fed her some nectar and ambrosia. She stirred slowly, but didn't wake. The girl had groaned- but, other than that, silent. No sign of life. Lysandra cautiously, recognition slowly dawning on her. Slowly, she brushed the honey-blonde strands of hair away from her face. She remembered her, but she couldn't seem to put her face to her name.

"I know her!" Lysandra exclaimed. "She's- I'm not sure I remember..."_ I know her - I really do! I just don't know..._

_"Holy Hephaestus! Who is that?!"_

Lysandra hurried through the small bunch of godlings with Adrian and the others.

"She needs treatment," Elektra demanded, "Now!"

The cluster of demigods parted for them, towards the medical bay. They rushed the unconscious girl to the end of the medical bay, where Adrian laid her down on a free gurney.

"Someone, get Chiron," Trudy panicked. Vytoni disappeared from view, and wove through the crowd to fetch the centaur. Lysandra fed her a little more nectar and Ambrosia. Elektra took aid to the girl's open flesh in her calf, swathing it in gauze and bandages. Trudy was busy tidying up the girl's hair.

"What are you doing?" Adrian asked.

"Her hair's a mess!"

"Well, that's the least of our problems - she's unconscious," He turned back to the girl.

Trudy nodded and went back to get more nectar. Rosamynd and Enryx went with her, whispering among themselves. Soon, Lysandra and Adrian were they only ones left.

Lysandra stared at her, trying to recollect her memories and tried to match her face with her name. Painstakingly slowly, the girl mumbled and came to, blink blearily. Lysandra nudged Adrian, who was drifting off and they looked at the girl, who was rubbing her eyes and frowning at the mirror at her bedside. She instantly reached for her weapon that was hanging from her belt - which of course, wasn't there.

"Who are you?" She said weakly, eyeing the two godlings. She paused at Lysandra, then looked back at Adrian, "Where am I?"

"You're at Camp Half Blood," Adrian said softly, so he wouldn't startle the girl, "You're safe now."

"Camp Half-Blood? What am I doing here? I'm not a demigod"

"You aren't?" Adrian frowned confused, and nudged Lysandra. She seemed fazed out by everything. Suddenly she snapped her fingers in front of her face.

"Katherine?" Lys asked, unsure.

"Who?"

"Katerina! Of course, it's Kat." Lysandra mused out loud, a happy smile breaking out of her face.

"Huh? Th-that's me," The girl said in utter confusement. "How do you know me?"

"_Kat, _it's me- Lysandra!" Saying that last word made Katerina's eyes shine bright with bewilderment.

"Lysandra?" Katerina said and went quiet for a while, trying to remember. "Lys, for real?"

Adrian looked back and forth, completely left in the dark of what's going on between the two girls.

"I haven't seen you in, like forever!" Lysandra strangled Katerina with an enthusiastic hug, which made Katerina wince.

"Yeah, I barely remember you!" Katerina groaned, "My leg!"

"Sorry!" Lys apologized, stepping back away from the gurney.

"Will someone _please_ tell me what's going on?" Adrian's befuddled mind was trying to comprehend the conversation around them.

"Well, we're sisters - full sisters this time!" Lys explained, beaming at Kat.

"Yeah, I guess we are."

"What? You are? Hecate has seriously _got _to stop breeding!" Enryx came up behind them, quickly followed by the other godlings and Kyle, who had disappeared to fix his bruise but came back.

Lysandra introduced Katerina to the others, and they all exchanged hellos, excitedly crowding around Lysandra's sister.

"So Kat," Elektra questioned, "If you are Lysandra's sister, then why didn't you go to camp with her?"

Katerina smiled and replied, "Well I grew up with Hades and Persephone, his wife. She taught me everything I needed to know about life and the afterlife."

"And, uh, Hades' my father," Lysandra said, earning surprised glances from the others, "But I grew up with Hecate instead, while Katerina grew up with Hades."

"Woah, what? Since when was Hades your father?" Enryx stared at her, making the tips of Lys' ears go red.

"Shut your mouth, Roman!" Rosamynd frowned at him. Instantly, everyone started talking, the chatter growing even louder.

"Basically both of your parents are Hecate and Hades, but Lysandra is closer to Hecate, and Katerina is closer to Hades, right?" Trudy asked.

"Yes, I think" Kat answered.

"Sorry about your leg, by the way," Elektra said.

"Meh," She shrugged. "It wasn't your fault."

"Right."

"So anyways, I was treated as Hades's little princess." She continued her story , "Which I loved until recently. He's always been overprotective, _too_ overprotective. You might not expect that from a guy like Hades but he does have emotions."

Katerina paused as some people sat down near her.

"Oh - and I can blend into my surroundings - I took after my father, since he's got the power of invisibility, and being daughter of Hecate kind of helped too. I'm not that great at it and I have to concentrate really hard. So playing hide and seek was never really an interesting game for me," Katerina said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Wait, what? You can basically turn invisible?" Adrian asked curiously. Kat nodded, then shrugged.

"More or less."

"Yeah, you can say that. Anyways, when I turned ten, my father realized I had the ability to talk to the spirits, I helped him handling the ghosts - to keep them in line and stuff," Katerina took a breath to continue. Just then, Chiron and Vytoni rushed into the medical bay, Chiron's face lined with concern and Vytoni's eyes dark with worry.

"How is she?" Chiron asked Lysandra, who was giving Katerina a sip of nectar. The injured godling sat up, pushing the drink away from her.

"I'm fine," Katerina murmured, her cracked voiced barely a whisper. Chiron tutted while Lysandra gently pushed her back down and gave her the nectar again. Kat took it, taking tiny sips and trying to look like she hasn't been run over by a truck even though she felt as if she did.

They were interrupted by loud cheers that were suddenly arising from the demigods around them. They parted again, this time with four campers triumphantly running towards Chiron.

"Greetings, sir," A boy maybe a little older than Lys spoke, his eyes lively and pumping with adrenaline, "The mission has been successful. The demigods returned safely -well, safe enough- and we, well they have completed the quest."

"Thank you," The centaur smiled warmly at them, then turned to the group of godlings, "This is Nethrys Blackthorn. He's the son of Enyo and Momis. He is a godling, just like you."

He had spiky black hair, and green eyes, and he was about 5"6, or 5"7. Lysandra started to give him a welcoming smile and go over to introduce herself when a little voice in her head spoke, making her blood freeze and her head to start spinning.

_You, Rosamynd, Adrian, Enryx, Elektra, Trudy, Vytoni, Katerina and Nethrys. There are nine godlings - and you know what this means._

_The quest has begun._

Mentally, Lysandra told that little voice to shut and go back to where it came from, but it was no use - that thought couldn't be unthought-of. Suddenly, Lysandra realized that most of these godlings don't even know about the prophecy. She looked towards Chiron, hoping for some insight from the wise centaur, and saw him looking at her, his expression grave and serious._ He knows._

She hastily shook herself and stood up, moving towards Nethrys. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Vytoni hasn't moved from where she sat down earlier.

Frowning, Lysandra walked over to her half sister, "Aren't you goanna say hi?"

Vytoni looked at her, then at the new-old godling, "Sure."

They went up to Nethrys, who greeted them with a friendly smile, "Hey there."

"Hi!" He replied, looking away, unsure of what to say.

"I'm Lysandra, and this is Vytoni, my half sister and other there," Lysandra nodded at Kat in the bed, looking through some mortal magazines. "That's my full sister, Katerina. We are all daughters of Hecate."

"Man, Hecate has _got _to stop... you know," He cheeks were tinted slightly pink, but other than that he seemed unfazed, basking in his recent victory._ Poor guy. He just returned from a quest, and now he has to go on another one. But he doesn't know yet._

"Well, maybe you should watch your mouth," Vytoni sneered, "Because even though the Hermes cabin is known for their pranks, I have my own bag of magic tricks - and believe me, they are ten times worse."

Nethrys raised his eyebrows, and countered with an equally snarky manner, "Well, at least _the Hermes _cabin isn't the most occupied anymore."

"Hey!" Lysandra frowned, stepping in between the quarrellers, "Firstly, do _not_

insult Hecate -if you know what's best for you- and secondly, we don't need to start off at the wrong foot, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Whatever."

Vytoni stepped away and turned back to talk to Kat again. Nethrys frowned at her and backed away from the godlings as well, rolling his eyes as he turned to accept his congratulations from the demigods surrounding him. Lysandra watched them go, wondering who she should tell decided to talk to Nethrys first, but as she approached him, he was leaving the medical bay, surrounded by demigods and basically fitting in._ I wonder how long Nethrys was there until they finally accepted him?_

Lysandra shook her head, turning away and heading back to Vyt and Kat. They were talking quietly, their eyes shifting around the room. Adrian strolled back over to them with his hand around Trudy's waist, joining their deep conversation. _Good - I can tell those three and Adrian can help. _Lys went over to Kat's bed and stood beside it.

"Can someone pass me a mirror?" Kat asked. Trudy quickly brought a compact mirror out of her pocket. Kat took one in the mirror and grimaced. "My hair's a mess!"

Trudy nudged Adrian and gave him the I-told-you-so look and helped fix Kat's hair.

"Kat, uh, how's your leg?" Lysandra started a conversation, attempting to make small talk.

Katerina shrugged, flipping through her magazine, "It's alright,"

Elektra reported, "It'll be much better in a few days."

"Really? Whoopee," She replied, sarcastically, her eyebrows raising.

"Hey- we've been doing the best we could. No need to get snappy," Elektra replied hastily.

"Oh my gods, guys! Why do we keep fighting?" Lysandra asked. "Can you all just listen to something- something _very _important." She looked at Chiron for support, and he nodded.

She took a deep breath, and began. "There was this new prophecy that was read out a few days ago- by Rachel Elizabeth Dare - you know, the oracle?

"She's the girl with an explosion of red hair, and wears a lot of _weird _clothes, like the other day she was wearing these pants with purple and red and-" Trudy started blabbering.

"Ahem!" Chiron cleared his throat, his expression clearly saying 'get back on track'. Trudy quickly piped down, looking at her feet.

"Right, right! So the prophecy was about nine godlings going on a quest, and-" She paused to look at the worried faces of not just Trudy, Katerina, and Vytoni, but also of Chiron and Adrian.

"Hey, what's going on?" Asked Enryx, walking side by side with Elektra, as theytoo joined the conversation.

"Just listen," Lysandra spoke, her stomach churning with each passing second, "And the nine godlings- well they _have _to be you, Enryx; Elektra; Vytoni; Katerina; Trudy; Adrian and me." She said, turning to each scared, worried godlings with the same look of horror on their face as she said their names.

"But, that's only eight," Katerina said, "Only eight godlings."

"Oh! I almost forgot to mention Neth-" Lysandra said, to be cut off by Vytoni's groan.

"Wait- _Nethrys_ has to come on the questwith us?"

"Wait, I never agreed to come!" Kat added, "My stupid leg is still injured!"

"One at a time!" Lysandra rubbed her aching temples, "Firstly, the nine of us are the only godlings in this camp, so not going is sort out of question," She shot Katerina an apologetic glance, then turned to Vytoni.

"And secondly, we must learn to cooperate -no matter _how_ disrespectful he can be." She gave Vytoni a hard look, and the godling just shrugged, her frown never leaving her face._ That's all I can ask for, I guess. Why do I get the feeling that I have a huge peacemaker role ahead of me?_

"Wow," Katerina looked around her, "I never realized this earlier, but why are there so many injured campers here? Was there a fight or something?"

Enryx shrugged sulkily, "Yeah - capture the flag."

"And _we _won," Rosamynd gloated, coming in to join the conversation.

"What were the teams?" Vytoni asked, looking around her for the expressions on the winning and losing teams, trying to recognize some faces.

Enryx told them which cabin was in what teams. When he finished, Lysandra smiled sympathetically and patted his shoulder, "If this makes you feel any better, if Vyt and I were there, Blue team would _definitely_ have won."

"Nuh - uh," Adrian countered, slipping an arm around Trudy's shoulders, "I would have been there, so we _might _just win anyways."

"Hey," Katerina frowned, narrowing her eyes, "Cabin 13 is Hades, right? So that means if I wasn't injured, Blue team _would_ win."

They kept on arguing for gods know how long, and Lysandra quietly slipped away, looking for the only godling who didn't know about the prophecy yet. She spotted him at the mess hall, eating lunch with a few other people._ Well, now's probably the best time - this is probably the non-busiest time he has._

"Nethrys," Lys called out to him. He turned around in surprise, his face hardening when he noticed Lysandra.

"What? I haven't got time for you guys," He said, scowling.

"Listen, Nethrys," She said, more steadily this time, nearing him, "The thing is- there's a new prophecy, an-and, well, you're in it."

**_~END OF CHAPTER 11~_**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 ~ Adrian**

"Hey! You leave her alone!" Adrian said fiercely, arriving at the scene, "Neither of us asked for this! I don't even know who asked for this. I mean it wasn't me but...I guess the Oracle did so blame her!"

Lysandra gave him a perplexed look, "Actually, the Oracle didn't make this prophecy..."

"Whatever!" Adrian frowned at her, "I'm saving your butt, genius!"

Nethrys scowled stonily and stormed away. Rolling his eyes, Adrian joined Lysandra back at the Medical bay, slinging his arm around Trudy, who had come with Adrian and moved to join him. They went back to the medical bay where Elektra was healing Katerina's leg while she talked to her.

"Hey Katerina, how's the leg?"

"Why are people so worried about my leg, its fine!" Kat reassured.

"Hey, cute boots, are they yours?" Trudy asked, nodding to the brown hunting boots at her bedside.

"Yeah, hunting boots - got them on sale!" Kat exclaimed, "Thanks for doing my hair, by the way!" She fingered her French braid from the crown of her head to back.

"No problem!" Trudy replied cheerfully. As they both started rambling on about girl business, Adrian heard choking sounds from across the bay. He could just make out Kyle through the thick crowd, choking and gargling. Adrian sprinted over to him, while Trudy and the others followed.

Adrian reached the gargling Kyle; he started pounding him on the back. Kyle reached for his throat, trying to cough out whatever was in it. Adrian continued pounding in between his shoulder blades. Kyle spluttered out water that landed on his feet, he continued vomiting up salty water, coughing and spluttering. Everyone had ran over to Kyle and made a circle around him.

"Kyle, are you okay?" Rosamynd said, concerned.

"What happened, Kyle?" Trudy asked, handing him some water, which he recoiled from and accepted nectar instead.

"I-I was drowning, I couldn't breathe properly!" Kyle panted, sitting down on a medical bed.

"You right here," Vytoni pointed out, her dark eyes narrowing in suspicion, "There's no water. You might have been dreaming, but you probably shouldn't be as traumatized as you are now, and you would know if you were in one." Kyle only shook his head, mumbling a string of curse words under his breath.

"But you're a Son of Poseidon - how could that be?" Lysandra mused.

"I know - it confuses me as well. I don't understand!"

"Describe it to us - once we understand, maybe we can figure it out," Enryx furrowed his eyebrows, taking the glass of nectar away from the demigod, "And that's enough nectar - you can literally burn up from this stuff, you know."

"There was water all around me and it pushed down on me from all sides and the more I struggled, the more disorientated I got. I pushed with my arms and legs but I couldn't find any leverage, and for all I knew I was pushing myself further down." Kyle stopped rambling, taking a deep breath as Rosamynd put a blanket over his shoulders.

"My lungs burned for more air even though I knew I would get none, but I finally couldn't take it, so I took a breath. Cold water filled my lungs and blood pounded behind my eyes and ears. The darkness engulfed me and I had nothing left in me to fight anymore, so I gave into the darkness and let the water consume me. There was a rush of cold and darkness, and I woke up, gasping with a mouth full of seawater."

"But you're alive now, and that's great!" Adrian tried to be positive about the situation. Trudy nudged him hard with his elbow, but soon rubbed it, apologizing.

"Yeah, thank the gods." Kyle sighed and leaned back while Rosamynd pressed a cool cloth on his forehead._ Huh. I never knew she cared so much about the guy._

"We better tell Chiron. This is one of the strangest things that has ever happened to a Son of Poseidon!" Lysandra said, obviously frustrated.

"I'll go," Adrian took Trudy's hand, starting towards the Big House, "Don't wait up!" Vytoni and Enryx joined him as well, much to Adrian's confusion.

"Uh..."

"I was just gonna go work on my archery skills," Enryx gave them a quick wave before disappearing. Vytoni vanished as well, offering no explanation whatsoever.

"Guess it's just you and me, huh?" Trudy gave Adrian a bright smile, which he returned. They walked in silence, hurrying to deliver the news to Chiron yet grasping what little time they had together alone, basking in the warm afternoon sun.

They quickly stepped inside the Big House and found Dionysus crunching on some potato chips and sipping on his large bottle of coke. Dionysus looked up from his tray of food and saw the two standing at the doorway grasping hands and grinned.

"Hello lovebirds! What do you want?" He said his mouth full of crumbs. Adrian gave Trudy an apologetic look and held her hand tighter.

"Err... we came looking for Chiron, there was some trouble with Kyle, a Poseidon kid," Adrian explained.

"There's always trouble with Poseidon kids," Dionysus shook his head and made tutting sounds.

"Well this time it's real trouble, Kyle had a hallucination of him drowning."

"Well, I must say that is quite unusual," The God of Wine lazily snapped his fingers,and a satyr immediately brought forth yet another tray of food, "But it's nothing serious? Chiron's study is down the hall, the second door to your left. Good day, Andrew."

Adrian opened his mouth, intent on correcting him, but he closed it and turned around, taking Trudy down to the hallway, where less unhelpful souls like Chiron dwell.

"Chiron?" Adrian said, knocking on the ancient wooden door.

"Come in! I'm making travelling preparations for your quest," Chiron looked up from his desk, smiling warmly at the couple in greeting.

"The quest. Right," Once again, Adrian felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach, but he pushed it away.

"What do you need, kids?" Chiron asked, looking at some papers on his desk.

"Well, just recently, like a few minutes ago, Kyle Brenna, a kid of Poseidon just had a hallucination that he was drowning, which is strange for a kid of Poseidon."

"Ah, Kyle, take me to him!" Chiron stood up from his wheelchair and instantly in all his centaur form glory.

They ran -well, Chiron galloped- back to the medical bay, where Kyle was sitting up, still pale and shaking but otherwise looking better.

"Kyle, is everything alright?" Chiron asked urgently. Kyle nodded and sighed, shifting and trying to sit up straighter to face the centaur. Rosamynd rushed over to him, helping him up and giving him some water.

"Remind me to take more precautions while going underwater."

"You should take more precautions while going underwater," Adrian reminded. Kyle gave him a funny look and shook his head while laughing sarcastically. Everyone waited as Kyle explained everything all over again to Chiron who was listening intently.

"It felt so real, Chiron - like I was actual drowning, which I've never experienced before." Kyle shook his head again, sinking into his pillows.

"What is your greatest fear, if I may ask, Kyle?" Chiron asked softly. Kyle's looked up at him, terror clouding his sea green eyes. He uttered a word, so softly that Adrian barely heard it. Barely.

_Drowning._

"What?!" Lysandra looked at the demigod, worry in her voice, "But-you're a-"

"I don't know," Kyle sighed, slumping back down onto his gurney, "I just don't know."

"That explains everything!" Chiron whispered, "I'll find you kids later and explain talk it through with you. I have to do my research first."

Chiron galloped off back to the Big House which left the Godlings standing there, confused. They let Kyle rest for a while as they headed to back to Katerina's bed, where Elektra was still tending to her leg with a few other kids from the Apollo cabin.

"Wow, legs that's bad?" Adrian asked.

"Apparently, if they don't close the wound soon then tons of bacteria and poisons could get in there, then I'd have to chop of my leg if it did, and I like my legs in a pair, thank you very much!" Kat said.

"It will heal soon," Elektra reassured for what seemed like the thousandth time, "Don't worry." Katerina rolled her eyes then laughed, though Adrian couldn't tell if she was still worrying or not.

"It's probably gonna heal in a few days," Adrian said again, While Elektra nodded in agreement and started to treat some other demigod who had broken her arm.

"So," Adrian and Trudy were the only ones at Katerina's bedside, "Why were you in that forest, anyways?"

"Well, uh, I was exploring -you know, enjoying the world outside of the Underworld," Kat said, wiping the blade of her long dagger, then tossing it back on the table, nearly hitting Adrian's hand. He frowned, retracted his hand and putting it back around Trudy's waist.

"The underworld? You live in the underworld?" Adrian looked at the girl in front of him. _She doesn't seem like the Underworld type..._

"Yeah, with Hades," Kat informed, smiling.

"I thought you lived alone, but Hades took care of you." Poor Trudy looked as confused as he felt.

"Well, I don't. Anyways, I should take a rest if I want this goddamned leg to heal!"

"Sure, we'll just go now," Adrian said and patted Kat's head as he left with Trudy, who waved bye to her as well.

Adrian smiled and walked alongside of Trudy, holding her warm hand.

"You know, this is one of our last nights at Camp Half-Blood," Trudy whispered to him, grasping his hand tighter. Adrian nodded and frowned.

"At least we'll be together," He smiled warmly at the beautiful blonde Godling. Trudy stopped Adrian and turned to face him.

"You know Adrian, I'm really glad Nethrys left on that quest, because otherwise I wouldn't have met you." Trudy said, resting her hands on Adrian's chest and smiling up at him.

"I am too. I'm glad that I was born, and that I was raised by Ares, that I went to boot camp every single year until I was thirteen, I'm glad I-" Trudy interrupted him with a soft peck on the lips, making him grin and blush wildly. "That was the best way to interrupt someone in a middle of a rant..."

"I'm sorry!" Trudy apologized sweetly, batting her lashes teasingly up at him.

"Don't be!" Grinning, Adrian leaned down and kissed her, sweeping her up into his arms in an exaggerated motion. They pulled away, laughing but Adrian didn't put her down.

Adrian walked Trudy back to the Aphrodite cabin, stopping right outside. Adrian pulled her in for a goodnight kiss, making the Aphrodite kids giggle and swoon. They smiled at each other and Trudy went inside, turning around to wave at him again.

For some absurdly strange reason, Adrian decided to sleep in the Nemesis Cabin._ I guess I just need the peace that the Ares cabin is unable to offer._

"Back again, are you?" Sighing to himself, Adrian looked up to meet Alli's challenging gaze, glaring back just as harshly.

"Listen, I've got a quest soon, so I really need to get all the sleep I can get-"

"What?"

"I need to get to sleep."

"No, before that, what did you say?"

"I have a quest soon."

Alli's tone went dangerously acrid, her practically black eyes hardening, "You are going on a quest? That is unheard of!"

"No," Adrian said triumphantly, having outsmarted her, "Nethrys Blackthorn was on a quest. He just came back."

Alli smirked, shaking her head, "Nethrys was only overseeing the demigods. He was not, however, part of the quest."

Adrian deflated, turning his back on his half-sister, "Whatever," He muttered, flopping onto his bed. Slowly, he felt the tides of sleep tugging at him, so he let go and sank deeply into the dream world.

"Wake up," A voice hissed, snapping Adrian out of the blissful sleep he had so enjoyed. Drowsily, he looked up and saw Enryx standing in front of him.

He groaned, and then yawned loudly, making the archer recoil, "It's eight in the morning," He rubbed his eyes, "Can't a guy get some sleep done here?"

"This is your last day at Camp Half-Blood," Enryx said urgently, "So we need to get cracking."

**~~~ END OF CHAPTER 12 ~~~**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 ~ Trudy**

Trudy woke up after a late night's sleep, half worrying about the quest but the other half thinking about her time spent with Adrian. She sat up and stretched her arms a bit, smiling and blushing to herself. She buried her head in her hands and squealed in delight. She instantly shot out of bed and climbed down from the top bunk and dashed to get ready. She put on a her customized Camp Half Blood shirt with a belt around the waist and some fitness shorts. She quickly applied some mascara and blush, then tied her hair into a quick french braid from her head to her back. She sprayed on a little bit of perfume, almost dropping it as she dashed out the door to Adrian's cabin.

She stepped outside of the cabin and breathed in the cool fresh air. She walked over to the Ares cabin, where she stopped a kid of Ares and asked if Adrian was inside the Ares Cabin.

"No, sorry. Check at the Nemesis cabin- he might be there," The boy replied, rushing off.

"Okay cool, thanks," She said, waving him off as she ran in the direction that led her to Adrian. She arrived at the Nemesis cabin, knocked on the door and entered. A intimidating-looking girl opened up the door, her hair in a perfectly swept up ponytail, already in her armour.

"Adrian's here, he'll be out in a minute." The girl said blankly and shut the door in her face. Followed by a voice yelling 'Hey!' at her. Trudy sighed and waited against the desolate red and black patterned wall, absently playing with her hair.

Adrian soon rushed out, wearing no shirt, his pajama pants still on, with Enryx trailing behind him, close to bursting with insane laughter.

"Morning babe," Adrian kissed her cheek, flashing her a warm smile, "Wow, you look great!" Trudy giggled and wrapped her arms around him, returning the smile.

Enryx gagged jokingly, wrapping his hands around his neck and pretending to choke himself. Trudy rolled her eyes at him and playfully smacked him -not so hard- on his arm- which Enryx then pretended it as if the slap did hurt, and he exaggeratingly fell over and played dead, tongue out and all.

"Hold on, just gonna change into something appropriate," Adrian glanced down at his bare chest, his face going red once again.

"What you're wearing is fine with me," Trudy said, then sniggered, giving him a playful wink. "Go! Go change, Adrian."

"I will," He said, laughing, and blew her a kiss, which Trudy caught. He quickly ran inside to get changed, appropriately.

"So...you and Adrian, huh?" Enryx said, standing up again. Alli raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's pretty great," Trudy said, grinning to herself.

"So you and Adrian are like going out now?" Alli asked, sharpening a spear on cabin 16's weaponry rack.

"We are - it's been going great!" Trudy said as Adrian rushed back outside, wearing half decent clothes: a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt that had got some paint on it and some faded jeans as well.

"Your hair - it's turning amber, like your eyes," Adrian said as he walked towards her, snaking his arm at the usual spot around her waist.

"Guys, we should really get going. We were told to meet Chiron and Mr. D at 8:30!" Enryx interrupted. They all ran down towards the Big House where everyone else was waiting, including Kat who was on a wheelchair but didn't look too happy about it. Trudy took a seat near the healing Godling, who was sulking and looked ready to murder the healer - which happened to be Elektra, who kept sending nervous glances at Kat's direction. The handicap kept mumbling about her leg and cursing it for being injured. They all walked -and wheel-chaired- in at once to Dionysus' office.

"Where's Chiron?" Rosamynd asked, eyeing Mr. D's office.

"Not in this room." Dionysus simply responded, sipping his grape juice.

"But where is he?"

"Somewhere not here."

Trudy suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. _Well that's very helpful_.

"What do you want to tell us?" Lysandra was on the verge of ripping her hair out, which would be a shame.

"Well, you're quest is gonna start soon,"

"When exactly?"

"Soon, all I know is that preparations for transport have been made and you should pack lightly and be by the borders in around two hours' time," Director D sighed, uninterested, his mind already somewhere else, "Off you go, now."

The nine Godlings hurried out of the Big House, towards the cabins.

"He's right though - we should pack, soon," Enryx said as they stepped outside.

"Yeah, we should, we'll meet back in half an hour?" Trudy suggested, and the others agreed and they separated towards their own cabins.

Trudy trudged back to the Aphrodite cabin and took out a big rucksack out of her closet, and folded some changes of clothes and family keepsakes and packed them neatly into her bag. She went over to her desk and picked up a necklace that her father, Hephaestus gave her. It was a little hammer charm on a silver chain. She fastened it around her neck and smiled at her little charm. She lugged her bag and went outside, where Adrian was waiting for her.

"So I was thinking," Adrian took her bag, "Maybe we should squeeze some training in. I mean, since we got together we didn't really sharpen any skill, and we sure do need them."

"Sure!" They first dropped their bags in front of the Big House and walked to the training area. When they got there, Enryx and Elektra were at the corner somewhere, improving on their archery skills. Vytoni had arranged a bunch of dummies, and began taking them down with a different weapon each. _And to think a bow staff is a flimsy weapon - that thing can crush a ribcage!_ Nethrys was hacking at one of the only dummies left with a mean looking blade, slicing the blade through it's 'heart', then cutting it's head off.

"Hey," Lysandra appeared breathlessly, with Rosamynd by her side, "Are we the last ones?"

"Yes - better hurry or all the test dummies are gonna run out. Wait, too late. Throw some knives or something."

Trudy and Adrian went over to the sparring arena and Trudy sighed nervously and backed away. Adrian caught her moving away nervously.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Adrian asked concernedly, cleaning his swords.

"Nothing, I just, I'm not that great with weapons," Trudy fiddled with her hair again, removing the braid and pulling it into a bun, then sweeping it into a ponytail.

"What do you mean? How do you defend yourself?"

"I don't, I mean, I've never been in that situation before," Trudy admitted

"Well, I guess we're going to have to teach you," Adrian said confidently, "So what can you do?"

"Change my appearance and bend metal."

"Well, that wouldn't be very useful- Wait! You can bend metal?"

"Comes with being a daughter of Hephaestus, I guess."

"Can you demonstrate?" Adrian said, tossing her a dagger that was laying around. Trudy gripping onto the tip of the dagger with her fingers and pushed and molded the dagger into a circular shape, sweat trickling off her forehead. The dagger bent, and she slumped back, suddenly feeling weak.

"It takes up a huge load of my energy, though." Trudy said, tossing Adrian back the deformed dagger. Adrian caught it and examined it, trying to bend it back to it's original shape.

"Woah, it's stiff - how?" Adrian asked, his hands turning red trying to reform the dagger. Trudy shrugged and picked up her dagger from her belt. It was gold with a brown leather handle- a special parting gift from her father, was designed to pierce through any material or density. Adrian held up his two dual swords, one was silver almost white, and one black. He swung them in wide arcs, testing his flexibility. He taught Trudy basic thrusts and parries, until she finally disarmed him (Well, maybe not really. But cut her some slack!) Kat rolled up to them in her wheelchair, holding multiple daggers in her hands. She stood up, well tried to, leaning on her uninjured leg and limbed up to them.

"Hey, can you train with me?" Kat hobbled up, holding a dagger. Trudy had to restrict a laugh for her determination to train. Stupid, but determined.

"I doubt you can train in your current state," Adrian said gently, "Just, exercise your leg, for now- and when you're sure it stops hurting, then maybe."

"Hey! I can still train, even with a broken leg, okay?" She replied, wobbling as she tried to stand straight.

"Stop it! You're going to hurt yourself. Honestly, woman. You know what, if you really, really want to train- here, fight me with your- wait, what's your weapon?"

"I call my dagger Kalypto. It's made of Stygian Iron - well it can release any soul in the underworld with one touch with the approval of Hades. You could say it's a smaller and less powerful version of the Sword of Hades," She said proudly, turning the long dark dagger between her fingers.

"So, do you throw it, or...?" Trudy asked, clutching Adrian's arm.

"I don't throw knives or daggers, like Lysandra," She said, eyeing Lys who was squealing, jumping up and down as her dagger hit bullseye on the target board. "I stab people with it," She said. Trudy's face paled, and she swallowed and smiled brightly at her.

"Great!"

"One on one? I'll go easy on you," Adrian challenged smugly.

"Oh, please" She replied, grinning but considered it for a while. "Fine."

Trudy instantly backed out of the way and gave them room to fight, pushing Kat's wheelchair out of the way.

And they were off. Kat cracked a smile. Adrian charged at her with his duel swords, going with a foreswing and following it with a backswing. Katerina dodged the first and met the second with her dagger. The weight of the sword and Adrian's force sent Kat tumbling down, so she improvised and rolled in contact, ending up behind Adrian. Adrian turned and swung down again. Kat deflected it with her blade, then swung it at Adrian's face. He staggered, blood flowing from a cut Kat's blade had made. She tackled Adrian, successfully pinning him down to the ground. He wriggled violently, but Katerina kept him down. Finally, Adrian yielded, flopping onto the floor. Kat got off him, grinning and Trudy rushed over, helping him up.

"I never said I'll go easy on you," Katerina said, smirking.

"But I did - and I went really, really easy," He said, on the ground, his lip gashed and bleeding.

"Sorry," Kat apologized, then leaned over to Trudy to whisper loudly, so Adrian could hear, "I'm not actually."

"Today was an off day for me,"

"Off day? I can barely move on two feet!"

"Your leg looks fine, by the way,"

"Is your leg ok?" Trudy asked, rolling her wheelchair over.

"It's been better," Kat grimaced, settling back down in her wheelchair while tucking her dagger back it's in sheath on her belt and picking up her bag, laying it on her lap.

"We should go now," Trudy suggested, the others nodded and headed to the crest of Half Blood Hill, where Enryx, Elektra, Lysandra and Rosamynd were already waiting for them. Trudy rolled Kat over to their destination. She noticed a dangling chain hanging around Kat's neck, with a locket with a ruby skull attached to it. Kat noticed that Trudy was staring at her necklace and quickly tucked it into her shirt. Trudy shrugged, waving it off.

"Hey," Lysandra looked around, "Where is Vytoni... and Nethrys?"

Just then, the last two Godlings arrived, both walking quickly, avoiding each other with deep glares on their face.

"Here they are!" Adrian exclaimed.

"And so is Dionysus," Elektra sighed, and Trudy looked up to see Dionysus walking out of the Big House and strolling slowly towards them.

"This ought to be a productive meeting," Vytoni mumbled, silently walking over to Lysandra. Nethrys not-so-silently strolled over to them, a half smile on his face.

Dionysus arrived and stopped in front of them munching on his curly fries. Everyone gathered in a semicircle around him.

"Children," Dionysus started to say, his mouthful of his snack, he started to count all the godlings, having to restart numerous amount of times because he would always lose his pace.

"We're all here, for the Gods' sake!" Enryx complained. Dionysus glared at the raven-haired Godling, who's grip was on his bow.

"Just checking. Anyways, your ride should arrive soon." Dionysus looked behind him, towards the Big House. They followed his gaze, but only saw the grassy lawns.

"Where's Chiron?" Rosamynd asked softly.

"He should be coming to see you off, but he probably has no time for you," Dionysus snorted, tossing his empty bag of chips for the satyr near him to catch.

"He has time for everybody!" Trudy glowered. Just then, a huge caravan drove up to them and nearly ran over Nethrys, who was standing near the pathway. Nethrys quickly jumped out of the way, cursing loudly. Dionysus tutted at him, then turned to the van.

"Your ride's arrived."

"That? A mortal caravan?" Kat said skeptically, turning to face the caravan.

"Well, off you go!"

"What do you mean? We don't even know what to look for." Trudy turned back to the God.

"Well, that's not my problem is it?"

"It kind of is," Elektra replied, but he had already disappeared.

A guy with these blue eyes all over his body came out of the caravan and tossed Adrian the keys, which he deflected off his sword he had instantly taken out and it dropped on the floor. He picked it up and looked around at the disapproving faces.

"What? It's a reflex!" Adrian shrugged, pocketing the silver keys. He put his sword back in his sheath, apologizing to the guy who tossed him those keys. They all climbed on to the caravan. Trudy gasped in surprise at how spacious and luminous the inside of the caravan looked. There were five bunk-beds - three on one side and two on the other. She walked deeper into the caravan and saw two luxurious bathrooms and an averaged sized kitchen with a huge high-tech fridge which Adrian ran over to throw open the fridge doors.

"Awesome! Free food!" Adrian whooped, and Trudy laughed, taking his hand and hauling him away before he starts to drool.

"I love magic," Enryx breathed.

There were maps and a huge hologram, for strategizing. They climbed up a flight of stairs and saw a living room, with a dining table and a TV with a bunch of bean bags. They found yet another flight of stairs and came across a patio/terrace deck. There were lounge chairs and couches with a barbecue pit.

They climbed back down to the main floor where everyone chose and settled into their bunk. Kat was at the end against a wall on the bottom bunk, with Vytoni above her, sorting out her stuff. Nethrys and Enryx settled in on the bunk bed on the wall opposite theirs. Enryx on the top, Nethrys on the bottom. Trudy was in the bunk in front of Kat's with Elektra above her. Opposite them were Adrian on the bottom bunk with an spare bunk on top, where he dumped all of his belongings which was already a mess. Lysandra was at the top bunk of the last bunk-bed, and was taking out her spell books out of her weightless bag with Rosamynd at the bottom.

"It's like our own private limo!" Trudy exclaimed, emptying her bag and placing them in her closet.

"Sure," Lysandra rolled her eyes, putting her books onto the bookshelf right next to her bed.

"I call shotgun!" Enryx said.

"I'm driving!" Adrian dashed to the driver's seat, happily putting his hands on the steering wheel.

"Can you even drive?"

"It's simple enough, you just turn the steering wheel to any direction you want!"

"Nethrys, Enryx and I will take shifts in driving," Elektra declared.

"We don't even know where to drive to!" Lysandra frowned.

The door burst open and it banged against the caravan wall. Chiron climbed onto the caravan with some struggle but managed to get his hind hoofs onto the steps and get on the van.

"Godlings! I have figured out what had happened to Kyle!" Chiron said, panting and wheezing for breath. The godlings immediately left their bunks and gathered around Chiron.

"You must go as soon as possible, take this book," Chiron thrusts a book into Lys' hands, "Turn to page 394! It'll give you all the answers."

Chiron turned and went out of the caravan. Everyone was left confused and clueless. The harsh wind banged the door shut, snapping them out of their confusion.

"You heard Chiron, we got to go!" Trudy exclaimed, knocking the rest of the godlings out of their silence.

"Where to?" Nethrys, who was at the driver's seat, turned on the ignition.

"Just drive, we'll figure that out later!"

**~~END OF CHAPTER 13~~**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 ~ Enryx**

Enryx wandered over to Lys and gently took the book and turned to page 394 to find images of mini tornados of what looked liked black velvet.

"What's this?"

"Well, you have to read it to find out!" Lys said, skimming through the page.

"I will!"

"Fine!" Lysandra stormed away from Enryx onto her bed top bunk. Enryx rolled his eyes and went over to his bunk which was far away from Lys'. Thank gods. Enryx propped himself onto his bed and started to read.

_There are mysterious and magical kinds of evil in this world. Ones that can take your greatest fear and turn it into reality. They suck your fear out of your soul and consume it, scanning it and saving it into their malicious mind. They copy your fear, making an exact copy then they enter the victim's body and possess their minds and make them see and feel their exact fear. They are living their own fear. They continue the hallucination until the victim is on the verge of their 'death'. These daemons are called the Phantoms of Fear._

Enryx smacked the book shut, panting. He was extremely frightened about what it said on the page. He buried his face into his hands and curled up into a ball.

"Hey buddy, you ok?" Adrian asked, climbing onto the spare bunk, attempting to sort through the mess.

"Yeah, it's just, the text, the thing that nearly killed Kyle," Enryx couldn't finish his sentence but instead tossed Adrian the book. "Just read it!"

Trudy had come over and climbed up onto the top bunk as well and cosied up to Adrian, reading along with him. Enryx watched as their eyes widened and their hand clamped tighter onto each other. Trudy shuddered, drawing herself nearer to her boyfriend, who wrapped his arms tightly around her and snapped the book shut. He picked it up and tossed it to Lysandra, who frowned at him for treating books that way.

They all turned to her, whose eyes were threatening to pop out of their sockets. She was visibly shaking, and Enryx wondered if the others would think of it if he went over and comfort her. He almost began to jump up and giver her his jacket, but decided against it. Too soon, too soon.

"Poor Kyle," Lysandra whispered.

Vytoni and Katerina came down the stairs, who was limping on her non-injured leg and walked over to their bunk. They gawked at the four, who were wearing frightened looks on their faces.

"What?" Vyt took the book from Lys' hands, handing it to Katerina. Kat paled, her eyes dancing across the page. She passed it to Vyt, who scanned the page quickly and flinched slightly, obviously trying not to show her fear.

"Ooh, is wittle bitty Vyt a little scaredy cat?" Nethrys crowed, striding into the room, when it was Elektra's shift as driver. Vytoni shot daggers (not real daggers, but they might as well have been) at him, and walked up to the smirking Godling, roughly shoving the book into his hands. She went up the stairs, leaving the others._I'm gonna have to look into them - find out what their deal is._

"Oh," Nethrys had to sit down, his eyes never once leaving the page. He closed the book, swallowing hard, "Oh, wow."

Enryx walked over to him, taking the book from Nethrys' hands, "I'm just gonna put this over there... way over there."

"Rosamynd and Elektra needs to read it," Lysandra gulped.

"It's alright I'll read it later!" Elektra called from the driver's seat.

"Where are we going now?"

"Anywhere - we have to do our research, though," Elektra replied, not turning to look at them, occasionally looking at a map.

Lysandra instantly reached for a book on her bookshelf, knowing exactly which book went where._ That's pretty cool!_ Enryx started to tidy up his bunk, hanging his bow and quiver and making his bed.

"Maybe we could stop at PB teen and grab some things to customize our caravan?" Trudy suggested, leaning her head on Adrian's shoulder.

"PB what?" Enryx look at her strangely. _Maybe it comes with being a child of Aphrodite._

"It's this amazing decor store! It stands for Pottery Barn!" Trudy said, all excited.

"Well, we do have to buy some time to figure things out" Kat taking off her boots and putting some turquoise flip-flops on.

"Sure, off to New York City!" Elektra said over her shoulder and changed direction in her route.

"You've gotta be joking!" Nethrys gaped to her, "Thats, like, a long way to go!"

"Are you kidding? That's only like an hour and a half away? Do you even know geography?" Elektra corrected.

"Well, we haven't got a time limit! At least Chiron never set us one," Lys said.

"Where's Rosamynd anyway?"

"I think shes in the den," Vytoni leapt down the stairs two at a time, landing silently. She yanked her combat boots off and climbed up to her bunk, picking a book and generally tuning out the conversation.

"Well, we better get comfortable, we'll be stuck here together for a long time," Lysandra sighed, also settling in.

"Adrian and I are already really comfortable," Trudy and Adrian were in a warm embrace on his top bunk, watching some sappy movie form the portable DVD player, that Adrian had brought along. Enryx rolled his eyes and leaned into his pillow, marvelling its comfiness. It was silent for a few moments, until-

"Hey, is anyone hungry?" Nethrys jumped down from his bunk and made a beeline for the fridge, "I'm gonna see what's in here."

"Can you get me. something?" Adrian shot up and looked at Nethrys and started listing all the food he wanted from the fridge. Trudy looked up and rolled her eyes, but laughed. Everyone burst into laughter, and Enryx thought he was getting an ab workout from laughing so much. By the end of the day, everyone had settled in and gotten along great, apart from some people who didn't seem to even acknowledge each other's existence. Nethrys spent most of his time in the den, while Vytoni spent hers up at the deck, where nobody seemed keen on going because of the strong wind the van creates.

Night drew in, and by 11pm everyone was in their beds, either reading or watching a movie or Gods knows what. Elektra had stopped driving and had settled in as well.

"Night night," Enryx called out. There were a few giggles and laughs, and he heard Lysandra respond.

"Sleep tight."

"Don't let the bedbugs bite."

_Finally!_ Enryx sat at the wheel, marvelling the van in renewed respect. He placed his hands on the leather wheel cover. Lysandra, Vytoni and Katerina were doing research- Kat was on her laptop; Vytoni was looking through a Dark Magic History book and Lysandra was re-reading the page 394 in the book Chiron gave her.

"Oh my Gods! I can't believe I didn't notice this," Lysandra suddenly screeched, breaking the stony silence.

"What, what?" Came Katerina's voice, as she limped towards Lys.

"Yeah, what?" Enryx said, called over his shoulder as he drove the minivan peacefully across the road.

"Well, Chiron forgot to mention to look at page 395, as well. Apparently there is this God of fear- Phobos- and, I don't know for sure if he's the person we're looking for - but it's a good start."

"Well does it say where he is?" Enryx asked, "Because that's no help to us, if we don't even know where he is."

"Nope- it doesn't," Said Vytoni, who was reading over Lysandra's shoulder.

"We could ask Hades, I'm sure he knows of Phobos' whereabouts. I've heard him talk of Phobos before, once or twice," Kat suggested.

"We could try, but I'm not sure the information he's gonna give us is not that helpful," Vytoni said skeptically, putting away her dusty tome.

"You don't know our father like we do, so trust me on this. And at least it's some kind of information to start off with. Let's iris-message him now," Kat limped into the bathroom and turned on a tap, diverting the water so it made a rainbow. reached into her pocket and took out a single drachma. Nethrys woke up in time for the shift change, and he went over, wanting to listen to the iris-message.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering," Kat announced loudly, creating a rainbow with the water from the sink. "Hades, the underworld."

Hades' face popped up on the screen. His dark hollow eyes and head of greasy black hair made Enryx having to suppress himself from making a face._ This guy needs a makeover._

"Katerina? What's wrong? Are you lost again?" The rough voice of Katerina and Lysandra's father said.

"Dad, no, I'm fine. I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"Who's that?" Hades asked.

"Who?" Kat pointed at Lys who was behind her, who was staring fish-eyed at her father. "Her?"

"Yes, her, she looks vaguely familiar."

"She's Lysandra, your daughter."

"Oh. You look so...old," Hades said. "How's Hecate? Good? Magical?"

"Yeah, she's ok," Lysandra replied blankly. Enryx could understand - this was her seeing her dad after Gods-know-what, and he treats her like this- as if she meant nothing to him.

"Enough chit chat, dad. I need to ask you something," Katerina said, a worried expression clouding her face.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Well have you heard from Phobos lately?"

"Phobos? Why?"

"I'm on a quest, father, I need to know where he is,"

"A quest? Last I saw of him, he was in Phoenix-Phobos, Deimos, Nyx and I were having lunch in the mortal world,"

"Phoenix? Is that where he is now?" Lys asked.

"No, Lily, he's not, that was ages ago, maybe a few years back,"

"Dad! That's not my name- it's Lysandra. Do you not remember me at all?"

"I do remember you, Lysandra. I just-" He sighed deeply. "I apologize."

"Apology accepted."

"Do you know where Phobos is now, Dad?" Kat urged, steering the conversation away from the awkward angle.

"No clue. Sorry princess, I have to get going now. I have a special dinner set up for Persephone and I. I'll say hi to her for you!"

The iris-message ended, and after they all stared into the sink in dismay, they left the bathroom shortly. Enryx quickly swapped back with Nethrys and set course for Phoenix. Rosamynd, Elektra and Trudy were still asleep while Adrian was in the den, contentedly chomping down a huge breakfast he made for himself.

Enryx stared at the open road -they were near the Hither Woods, having not travelled that much since they left- but at least they had some information on where to start looking for Phobos. It felt good to be back in the driver's seat again. He had a car back home with Apollo - one of the best cars in the mortal world, Dad had said.

"Enryx," Lysandra said interrupting his thoughts. She slid into the seat next to him, her arms wrapped around a thick book.

"Hey, what's up?" He said, not taking his eyes of the road.

"Nothing, Katerina and Vytoni are discussing battle plans."

"You're not that interested?"

"Not that much, no," Lysandra said softly, opening her book.

"Do you think we're gonna find Phobos in Phoenix?" Enryx asked turning up the radio to drown out the silence.

"I don't know if we can trust Hades," Lys confessed, turning to look at him.

"But he's your father!" Enryx exclaimed, entering a thick fog.

"That doesn't mean I trust him," Lysandra murmured, skimming through her book, being careful with the delicate, ancient pages.

"Argh!" Enryx suddenly shrieked, as he saw a figure standing in the mist. He couldn't see what exactly it was, just the silhouette standing within the fog. Enryx yelped and slammed his foot onto the brake, swerving off the road and onto the forest floor. Enryx immediately turned off the ignition. Lysandra smacked her book shut and put it on her seat as she stood up. Rosamynd, Elektra and Trudy jolted up, rudely awakened from their nap. The Godlings, ran out of the van, weapons at ready. Everyone in their pajamas, barely awake for battle. The dark silhouette slowly walked towards them slowly. Enryx could just make out the figure. Greasy, matted fur, a stink that could knock your breath out, snarling face and for some reason, very glowy red eyes.

_Monster._

**~~~ END Of CHAPTER 14 ~~~**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 ~ Elektra**

Elektra gulped at the sight of the horrid beast, and gripped her bow, a silver arrow in place, ready to shoot at any sign of attack from the beast. It growled, and she flinched. She's never liked monsters - her passion was healing and herbs which she took after her father. It was a skill she was always interested in, so she had a superior knowledge of plants and herbs. Enryx's passion was driving Chariots, which he took after both of their parents.

The beast lunged forward at the group, and they parted to dodge the monster. Elektra shot an arrow at the monster's head, but just when it was about to hit the monster, it lunged at one of her other friends, thought it was too foggy to see who it attacked.

Her friend squealed and she heard the beast roar. _Rosamynd! _Elektra recognized the voice and instantly jumped forward, aiming for the animal silhouette. The fog had cleared a little when the arrow penetrated it, and it looked like very gigantic..._ pig?_ It seemed to furry to be a pig but she shrugged it off and shot another silver arrow at the weird creature. The arrows dug into the animal's head and the pig toppled onto the floor next to Rosamynd. Suddenly, she heard something that sounded like a cross between a pig with a cold and a lions roar. It wasn't coming from the boar that she just killed. It was all around them, surrounding them. Without warning, a pair red eyes were enclosed around them. Low growling noises were coming from underneath.

"Boars!" Adrian exclaimed.

"Not just any boars, Erymanthian Boars!" Vytoni leapt over the boar as it charged at her, attempting to land on it and stab it's back, but her dagger glanced off it's thick fur and it shook violently, forcing her to drop to the ground, "I read about them in _A Guide to Monsters._"

"A Guide to Monsters?" Enryx asked, drawing an arrow into his bow.

"It's the _Beginner's_ book of Monsters," Lysandra informed, clutching her dagger at the ready.

There was a high-pitched snarl that seemed to signal the boars into attack mode. There were around ten boars surrounding them, making a small circle and edging slowly towards them. The boars all charged and lunged forward all at once. Elektra shot an arrow into a stomach of one, but it was still alive. She continued shooting arrows at others who were attacking her friends. She noticed Trudy trying to go after a boar but Adrian stood in front of her protectively to fend off the attacking boars.

Lysandra was throwing knives at a couple of boars that were coming at her, hitting all of them and leaving them unconscious on the ground.

"Lys! Look behind you!" Kat warned her, and Elektra noticed Enryx running over, shooting the boar squarely in the eye before Lysandra could turn around. Lysandra nodded in gratitude to Enryx. Elektra looked around and saw that they had exterminated all of the boars, for they all had disappeared in a flurry of dust and fur, leaving behind only their gross odor. There was a huge weird wailing sound coming from the fog that had thickened during their fight.

"What was that?" Rosamynd's voice shook, peering into the thick haze.

"I have no clue!" Elektra said, bow and arrow at the ready, aiming at the creature._ This one is much, much bigger than all the other little ones._

"It's a mama boar!" Adrian said dumbly, causing the group to lose focus for a few moments and just at him in confusion.

Vytoni, Adrian and Nethrys charged at the boar, and the others who had long range weapons tried to find a better aim while Elektra stayed close to Katerina.

Distantly, Elektra heard Katerina cry out to her, "Can I go fight now? They need me."

Nethrys and Adrian struck their swords at the monster's thick hide at the same time, hoping that it would do more damage. The beast grunted, opening it's mouth and Vytoni then stuck her bow staff down its throat, trying to crush it windpipe. The boar gnashed it's sharp teeth together, breaking it. Vyti shot it a very mean look, drawing her sword and promptly stabbing the roof of it's mouth. Elektra could see the blade, coated with dark, gooey blood, protrude from the top of it's mouth, just above the tusks.

It _still_ wasn't dead. Elektra quickly shot an arrow into the boar's huge nose, hoping it would clot and stop it breathing. But the boar just sneezed it out and growled louder. _Gross. _By then Katerina had already gone towards the action, holding up her indigo-black dagger, with Trudy by her side. Elektra and Enryx kept shooting at the boar, while Lysandra and Rosamynd got a little closer and started aiming their daggers for the Boar's weak points - which they didn't know, so they just aimed for joints, vital organs and the occasional eye.

"How did the Erymanthian Boar die again?" Nethrys yelled over to Lysandra, swiping his sword at the boar's skin, holding up his silver shield.

"It didn't," Lysandra said, dodging as the said creature charged at her, "Even Hercules couldn't defeat it - only captured it, and he was in snow, where the boar couldn't moved properly. And now, its here and we have absolutely no idea how to stop it."

"Then how the heck are we supposed to kill, or at least capture this pig?" Adrian said, rapidly slashing at the beast.

"You can't," Vytoni shook her head, looking around for something.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Elektra asked, continuously shooting and aiming at the creature.

"We need to retreat. Beating this thing is impossible," Kat furrowed her eyebrows, looking at the caravan and back at them, as if measuring the distance.

Enryx and Elektra took a last shot at the beast. Their arrows twined and formed a huge explosion in front of the beast. They all sprinted towards the caravan as black ash clogged up the boar's vision.

"Where did those boars come from, anyway?" Adrian asked, pushing open the caravan door and holding it open politely as everyone rushed in and put down their weapons. Elektra immediately took the wheel and started to drive away from the beast. They were driving further away from their destination but they'll find another route around.

"I have no clue but to avoid that from happening again. We should have people on watch all the time, one person driving and one person being lookout!" Enryx ordered.

"But that means you, Nethrys and I will be just switching shifts between the three of us all the time!" Elektra exclaimed.

"That is correct," Enryx nodded, "Nethrys and Vytoni will take first shift, everyone better rest up and be ready for theirs." Everyone nodded and went over to their bunks. Nethrys took over the wheel and Vytoni slid beside him, avoiding the unusually solemn driver. Elektra hung up her quiver of arrows and bow and climbed up onto her top bunk, hoping to take a quick nap before lunch to regain her energy. She slipped under her warm covers and slipped into unconsciousness.

Elektra awoke from her light doze and sat up in her bunk. She looked up at the clock just in front of her. _Twelve o'clock? I've only been asleep for an hour! _She threw back her covers and climbed down the bunk, looking around. Katerina was on her laptop, scribbling down some notes on a notebook by her side. Trudy was doodling on a sketchbook she had brought with her, occasionally looking at Adrian who was snoring quietly in his slumber, smiling to herself. Vytoni was still in the front seat next to Nethrys, reading some sort of thick book with one hand unconsciously on the hilt of her sword and bow staff -obviously mended or replaced- next to her. Elektra walked over to Kat, who was furiously typing on her laptop so fast smoke seemed to be coming off the keyboard.

"Hey Kat, want me to check on that leg?" Elektra asked, picking up her first aid kit and her healing and herbs box.

Kat shrugged and put down her laptop, "Why not?"

"How's it feeling?" Elektra asked, tending to her leg, which wasn't so deep and serious anymore.

"Not so bad, I guess. I can kind of limp on it," Katerina replied, sweeping her brownish-blonde hair into a ponytail.

"Well, it should be completely healed either today or tomorrow," Elektra informed, looking over her wound.

"Thanks Elektra!" Katerina smiled gratefully at her, then turned back to her computer.

"It's no problem," Elektra replied, packing up her stuff and putting it back onto the table.

She announced, "Lunchtime!"

Adrian shot out of bed, "Food!" Everyone laughed at Adrian who just looked around, confused. Elektra went into the kitchen and started making lunch, some pancakes for the missed out breakfast, fruit, sandwiches, chicken wings and drumsticks, pasta, burgers and fries. She took out the cooler which stored all the drinks and took out nine cans of coke. She laid it all out on the dining table in the den.

Nethrys had parked the caravan and was waking people up and telling them that lunch was ready. Everyone had sat around the huge dining table, chattering to each other.

Everyone started stuffing their faces with food, especially Adrian who was sitting next to Trudy, eating two chicken drumsticks, one in each hand. He was too engaged in his food to notice anyone. She looked around and saw Lysandra and Vytoni talking quietly amongst themselves and Kat and Trudy were talking and laughing about something funny one of them had just said. Enryx and Nethrys were showing each other battle plans and arguing about which of their weapons were the strongest. Rosamynd was next to her, eating quietly, watching a movie on the portable DVD player. _I've got no one to talk to. _

"Hey, Elektra!" Someone called. Elektra looked up from her food and saw that Katerina had walked over to her with a huge, sunny smile on her face.

"Oh, hi!" Elektra replied, and her face brightening up as the gorgeousgodling came to sit down next to her on the rusty, pale bench. "What happened? Weren't you talking to Trudy?"

"Yeah, I was. And actually I still am," She said, as she nodded to the direction of Trudy flounced over to them, after pecking a quick kiss on Adrian's cheek- which he didn't notice, as he was stuffing his face with food.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" Trudy asked, sitting next to her.

"Thank you for healing my leg, by the way. I'm sorry I was a bit rude before, I was just scared that my leg would never heal from the monster's bite," Katerina apologized.

"No problem," Elektra smiled, "Water under the bridge." Elektra grinned and continued eating her pasta. They continued talking and eating for a while, until Nethrys brought up an interesting conversation topic.

"So Katerina, I heard you could turn invisible," Nethrys said, taking a bite out of his cheeseburger. Katerina shrugged and nodded, sipping her coke.

"Can you show us?" Adrian excused his food to look up at Kat. Katerina nodded and stood up against the pale, cream-colored wall. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard, and soon her skin and clothes turned paler. The last visible thing on her body to transform were her turquoiseeyes opened for a split second then turned a milky white color. Everyone gasped in awe. _Wow. _Elektra looked on enviously._ I wish I had a cool power like that. _

Katerina turned back to her normal self, and sat down and drank her coke. Conversations started back up again, filling the air with a dull buzz of chatter . Suddenly a face popped in the air - Chiron's face. _Iris Message. _

"Children, I haven't got much time, but I forgot to tell - Daniel, it's alright, the lava wall isn't going to kill you!"

"What is it, Chiron?" Enryx asked.

"Well, children, I forgot to tell you that your quest must be complete by the winter solstice, another part of the prophecy just came with it."

"Another part of the prophecy? What do you mean?"

"_You must face others like yourselves  
In family history you must delve_

_There's no need to scour the earth and seek_

_For your deadline arrives at winter's peak._"

Everyone stared at the centaur's face for a long time.

"The winter solstice? That's only a few months away!" Elektra said, breaking the chilling silence, "Actually, that's not too bad - I mean, the kid's quests have a much shorter deadline, and we have a quarter of the summer and the spring to complete it. But still, we shouldn't waste any time."

"I must go now Godlings, but you must act fast," The iris-message ended, leaving the nine Godlings staring at each other in complete and utter shock.

~~~END OF CHAPTER 15~~~


	16. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16 ~ Trudy**_

By the time Trudy and Katerina left the dining table, everyone had gotten up and sat on the bean bags and sofas sprawled across the carpeted floor, so soon the dining table was empty except for Adrian, who was still eating everyone's leftovers. _He's the cutest boyfriend. _Trudy smiled at him as he finished his food and leaned back on his chair, patting his stomach. Trudy walked over to him and took his hand.

"Want to go up to the roof?" Trudy asked.

"Sure, why not?" Adrian shrugged and stood up, holding Trudy's hand tight. They both headed up to the roof where the lied down on the deck chairs. They looked up at the misty sky.

"The stereotypical thing to say would be that the sky looks beautiful, but it really isn't," Adrian commented, looking up at the bleary grey sky. Trudy laughed and rested her head on his chest, grinning.

"Um... Adrian, can I ask you something?" Trudy murmured into his chest, embarrassed and guilty to even think about what she was about to say.

"You just did," Adrian joked, laughing at his own comment. "Sorry, go ahead."

"Well, I just want to know if there's something going on between you and Katerina?" Trudy looked down, a blush searing her face.

"Kat and I? Of course not, we're just good friends! I have feelings for you Trudy, and you only." Adrian assured her, drawing her in and looking into her eyes, "Why?"

"Shh," Trudy smiled up at him and pressed her lips on his lips smoothly, wrapping her arms around his neck. Adrian wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. There was heat between them, radiating, making them glow. Trudy could feel butterflies in her tummy as they kissed. Pure intoxication of their intertwining mouths were swirling and puckering with each delicious smack of escaping air which overcame Trudy's entire body. Trudy pulled away from his sweet soft lips and stared deeply into his emerald green eyes. He pulled her in and planted another kiss on her mouth, a deeper one. He slowly urged his lips harder against Trudy's

Trudy pulled away ever so slightly to breathe and plucked up the courage to say it.

"I love you," She whispered and she grazed her lips against his.

"I-I love," Adrian hesitated for a while, "brownies." Trudy looked up at him, startled and confused by his outburst.

"Oh my gods, Trudy, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry," Adrian instantly apologized. "It's just that I was nervous, I've only had one other girlfriend before and I wasn't sure what to say. I panicked, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright; maybe it was too soon to say it. It's not your fault," Trudy forced a smile, trying not to let the hurt show in her expression.

"Speaking of brownies, "Adrian cleared his throat, obviously as uncomfortable as she was, "I'm just going to go downstairs and check if there is any. Want to come?"

"I think I'll just stay here for a while," Trudy smiled at him as his spiky blond hair disappeared from view.

After a few minutes of lying there thinking about what she had said to Adrian, she noticed Rosamynd walking towards her, holding up a tray with two glasses of lemonade on top.

"Lemonade? Elektra made them," Rosamynd put the tray down on the table next to the deck chair.

"Sure," Trudy smiled and sat up to sip her lemonade, looking at the dark misty sky.

"So you and Adrian? How's that going?" Rosamynd asked, sipping at her lemonade.

"It's good, really good," Trudy said trying to push what happened just then out of her head.

"There's something I need to tell you, about me," Rosamynd confessed, her eyes filled with anxiety.

"You can tell me anything," Trudy reassured.

"Well, uh, I used to kind of have a crush on Adrian. We met before but we kind of grew apart and I've kind of liked him since."

"Oh," Trudy sat back trying to process the information, "Do you still like him?"

"No, I'd never get in the way of your relationship with him."

"But do you still like him?"

"No, I-I like someone else, well at least I think I like him," Rosamynd admitted.

"Who? If you don't mind me asking,"

"It's Kyle, Kyle Brenna, the Son of Poseidon," Rosamynd blushed, looking away from Trudy, "You know, the guy from capture the flag."

"You like Kyle?"

"Uh, yeah," Rosamynd blushed a deeper scarlet "He-uh..."

"What?"

"Maybe I shouldn't say..."

"C'mon," Trudy wheedled. _This is part of being a daughter of Aphrodite - you just can't know half the truth, especially when it comes to romance._

"He asked me to the End of Summer Dance, actually."

"Really? Adrian asked me to that dance as well," Trudy smile flickered a little, but she jumped up and down in excitement, "We should totally go together!"

"Well I'm going downstairs to get more lemonade and I promised Elektra that I would help her with her herbs," Rosamynd said and waved to Trudy before she descended down the stairs

"It's ok, I'll just enjoy my time here," _Alone. _Trudy sighed. After a few minutes of soaking in the wet humid air and finishing off her lemonade, she decided it was no use staying on the roof and stood up to go back downstairs. Elektra and Rosamynd were in the corner of the den, practicing making herbs, as Rosamynd said. Kat was on her laptop, and making notes on her notebook. _Where's Adrian?_ She sat down on a bean bag and began to think about her relationship with him. _Did I ruin it? Was it too soon?_

Katerina had joined the herb making session, bending down and talking to Elektra. Elektra said something back, which made Kat whoop with joy and rush over to a very confused Trudy.

"Guess what?" Kat spun on her evidently healed leg, "I'm free from this stupid leg injury - Elektra said so! Hey, what's wrong?" Katerina noticed Trudy's faraway expression with worry, "You alright?"

"I guess so."

"Want to talk about it? I'm going upstairs to train a little, since I've been slacking off - care to join me? You can work off some of that steam, then maybe we can talk about it later."

"Sure!" They headed upstairs to the small training area, where to Trudy's bewilderment; Vytoni was up on the rafters, reading a book and certainly not being worried about falling off.

"Uh... what are you doing up here?" Katerina asked, craning her head up at the Godling.

"Aren't you supposed to be with Nethrys, on first shift?" Trudy questioned, confused.

"I am - well, at least he thinks I am," Vytoni lifted up an arm, where a single rune was glowing faintly, "The doppelgänger charm. I'm basically in two places at once. And to answer your first question, I up here so I _won't be bothered._"

"So you're basically sitting downstairs staring into thin air, doing nothing and Nethrys doesn't even notice?" Trudy asked.

"Uh huh. But he is such a blockhead he probably won't even notice."

"Oh. Okay, then," Trudy turned to Katerina and to the door, wondering if she should leave when she noticed that Vyt wasn't holding a book, but a sketchpad.

"You draw?" Trudy pointed at the sketchbook with newfound respect for the Godling.

"No," Vyt replied, flipping the pad around and showing her a strange symbol, "I'm just designing new symbols, giving them new meanings and stuff."

"Mind if we train here for a while?" Katerina asked boldly, striding up to the dummy, which stood limply at the corner of the room

"Not at all. I'll watch," Vytoni said, but she was already immersed in her own things._ Oh, well. No point in bothering her - she did say she came here to be alone._

Katerina took out her long dark dagger out of the sheath attached to a belt on her waist. _Stygian Iron - pretty dangerous stuff. Better not get on her bad side. _Trudy was holding her bronze short dagger with a golden hilt. Kat's dagger looked superior to hers, especially since Trudy's was a little smaller than the average dagger. Kat had started attacking the dummy, swiping it and stabbing it from all angles. _Wow, she's good. _It was like her dagger was an extension of her arm, an extra limb that gracefully... kills things. She danced around the dummy, jabbing at any unharmed spot of the victim. She stopped, panting. Sweat was already dripping down from her skin.

"Your turn," She simply said as she sat down on a bench, wiping the sweat off her forehead and leaning against the wall.

Awkwardly, Trudy stepped up to the battered dummy, warily looking around and gingerly poking it with her knife, finding the weak spots in the body.

"Well," Trudy started to say, "Things haven't been exactly smooth with Adrian and I..."

**~~~END OF CHAPTER 16~~~**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 ~Enryx**

Enryx sat on his bunk and started wiping monster blood off his arrows and polishing his bow. _Why can't monsters not bleed? They can basically do anything else._ He hung up his quiver of golden arrows and bow and started unpacking his camping bag and sorting out his clothes in his wardrobe he shared with Nethrys, while Adrian got one to himself including an extra bunk which he was curled up on, burying his face in his hands.

"Andy, you alright?" Enryx asked, looking at the wreck of a Godling. Scoffing with the name of 'Andy', he replied,"Not really."

"Want to talk about it?" Enryx awkwardly consoled, though he secretly wanted him to say no. It's not that he didn't like Adrian, it was because it was probably about romance or food, which were things Enryx were not bothered with and he didn't think he was much help.

"Sure," Adrian rolled over to look at him and Nethrys, who was hanging upside down from his bunk._ Damn it!_ Elektra had switched shifts with Nethrys, with Rosamynd in the seat next to her.

"So uh.. what's wrong?" Enryx asked.

"Well...I was with Trudy on the roof, we were kissing-" He was interrupted by Enryx's gagging.

"And then she said `I love you' to me."

"That's sweet, I guess," Enryx said awkwardly, not really knowing that to say to him.

"But then... I said I love brownies."

"What's so bad, you love brownies!" Nethrys shrugged, flipping off the bed and grabbing the wretched but delicious snack from the fridge, tossing one at Enryx and Adrian.

"But she said 'I love you' and I didn't say it back." Adrian replied, as he started munching on his snack.

"But do you love her?" Eryx frowned at Adrian, watching him fidget uncomfortably and turn away from him and Nethrys, who was also observing the Godling with a slightly disapproving expression.

"We're almost at Phoenix!" Elektra interrupted from the front seat.

"I don't know, we only just recently met and we haven't known each other for a long time."

"So you don't love her?" Nethrys asked, pausing from polishing his silver shield to look at Adrian, his eyebrows raised in confusion .

"I-I don't know."

"Do you still wanna go out with her?" Enryx asked, "I mean she's really pretty, nice, talented, pretty and smart. Did I mention she was pretty?" He added, smiling to himself.

Adrian gave them both a hard look, "Seriously guys, what am I going to do?"

"Tell her you love her, maybe?"

"I don't know if I want to yet," Adrian groaned, flopping into the bed and burrowing his head into the pillow.

Enryx heard footsteps coming down the spiralling staircase from the floor above. Katerina walked down the stairs and over to her bunk with Trudy behind her, both sweating and panting. Enryx saw Trudy looking at Adrian, who was fiddling with the leather cord around his neck, not quite meeting her eyes.

"Are you sweating? Why are you sweating?" Nethrys asked curiously.

"Where did you guys come from?"

"The training room." Kat collapsed onto her bed.

"We have a training room? Since when?" Poor Nethrys just looked really, really confused.

"Since forever, I guess," Trudy said quietly. Katerina whispered something in Trudy's ear and Enryx could just make out what she said- something about talking to 'him'. He guessed that 'him' was Adrian and that Katerina wanted Trudy to talk about what happened.

"Adrian, can I talk to you in private?"

"Huh? Yeah sure," Adrian said down at her from his bunk. Trudy nodded and put down her battle gear and walked up stairs with Adrian behind her.

"Do you wanna eavesdrop?" Kat suggested, grinning cheekily. The others agreed and went up the stairs but paused before the second step after a very disgruntled Vytoni and Lysandra came down the stairs and joined them, obviously kicked out of the second floor.

"Who kicks people out of their habitat?" Lysandra complained, "Are they even allowed to do that? They shouldn't be allowed to do that."

"Shush!" Enryx silenced, "C'mon. Lets go!" They walked up the stairs silently, Lysandra pausing to cover her mouth as she swallowed a giggle. They stopped right in front of the door, careful not to make any noise.

_"Adrian, I-I'm sorry." Trudy apologized_

_"Sorry about what?"_

_"Saying that. It was obviously too soon."_

_"It's ok, sorry for responding badly."_

_"No, it's me that should be sorry."_

_"No, I'm sorry, my response was stupid."_

_"You know what? We're both sorry, I like you, alot ."_

_"You're in like with me?"_

_Trudy giggled, "Yes, I'm in like with you, Adrian Belikov."_

_"It's Sir Adrian Belikov," Adrian corrected jokingly in a serious voice. They both laughed. They're probably having a make up kissing session. Enryx could almost hear them kissing but maybe it was just his imagination. He heard footsteps edging towards them._

"They're coming back down!" Enryx panicked. Everyone instantly ran down the stairs and hurried to pretended to do something. Nethrys went back to polishing his shield; Vytoni and Lysandra went back to reading and Katerina went back on her laptop. Enryx rushed over to his bunk and slid under the covers as he heard Trudy and Adrian walk down the stairs and go into the kitchen.

"Hey, guys- what's new?" Adrian said, awkwardly, making himself a sandwich.

"Um, we literally just saw each other like two minutes ago," Nethrys commented, catching the juice box that Adrian chucked at him, "Thanks."

"Not so welcome," Adrian muttered, "Right, um, we did." Adrian replied, nodding to everyone, "Yeah! We did." Adrian hurried away with Trudy, eating the sandwich he just made.

Vytoni got up again and headed back upstairs, probably, but as she walked past Enryx and Nethrys's bunk, all of a sudden she fell, catching herself on the last second, bringing Nethrys down with her. Despite having fell down as well, Nethrys burst out laughing, snickering to himself.

"You tripped me, you moron!" Vytoni leapt back up again, glaring at Nethrys.

"Not my fault, you and the floor must be very close!" Nethrys said, unable to hold in his laughter.

"You're dead, Blackthorn!" Vytoni growled, punching Nethrys square on the jaw while storming up the stairs. Everyone stared at Nethrys, who was rolling around on the carpeted floor, roaring in laughter.

"You should go apologize, Nethrys," Lysandra said softly. Kat looked up from her laptop and grunted in agreement.

"She deserves it!" Nethrys retorted indignantly.

"Why? I mean," Enryx quickly defended himself from Nethrys' seething glare, "What has she done to you?"

"She was born," Nethrys replied lamely, pouting like a child, which made everyone either laugh or roll their eyes in frustration. Enryx scoffed, while Lysandra pointed towards the flight of stairs Vyt had stormed up. _Sometimes Nethrys _can_ act like such a jerk._

"Fine," Nethrys sighed in resignation, slowly walking up the steps, " I'll go apologize." He went up the stairs, disappearing from their view. It was silent for a few seconds, then-

"Maybe we should go listen in on them," Lysandra whispered, already getting up and creeping up to where the two Godlings were talking - more like arguing. The others followed her, their ears keen and alert for any signs of trouble.

"We're a bad influence on her," Enryx whispered to Katerina. Kat giggled and smiled, following them up the stairs. Distantly, Enryx could just make out what they were saying - and that was because they were on the verge of shouting.

_"Look, I said I was sorry, okay?"_

_"Don't talk to me! Unless you would like to be my target practice!"_

_"Ugh. Nevermind. Anyways, why do you have such a big grudge on me?"_

_"What?!" _Enryx could practically envision Vytoni as she bore a hole through Nethrys' sorry little face._ " I have every right to grudge against you!"_

_"What do you mean? What have I done to you?"_

_"Its people like you, who just stroll in and take whatever and leave. Half the girls in the Hunt were scarred by boys like you! Some of my friends left the Hunt because of some guy she fell for. So I'll say this once. Stay away from me and my friends."_

_"Sure, I can do that. Your friends are miles away. In fact, they probably replaced you, too."_

Next to him, Enryx heard Lysandra draw in a sharp gasp, as if she remembered something particularly painful. He opened his mouth, intent on speaking with her, but she shook her head slightly and continued listening intently, pressing her ear up against the door. _Later._

_"Well then, keep up the good work or you'll regret it." Vytoni growled._

The crowd of godlings which surrounded the door parted as Vytoni threw open the door.

"Thanks for invading my private conversation guys," Vytoni stalked up to the roof. The others looked at her then at each other, and instantly rushed to Nethrys, who was sitting on a beanbag watching some talk show with a short-haired, white blonde woman sitting on a red armchair. Nethrys' cheek were flushed with embarrassment or anger - Enryx wasn't sure which one it was.

"That witch! Who does she think she is? Queen Latifah? Princess Diana? She can't tell me what to do!" Nethrys complained.

"You're the one that tripped her up!"

"It was just a joke, I swear."

"You apologized though, right?"

"Yeah, you guys eavesdropped so you already know, I did but all she did was talk about this 'I'm a boy' business."

"Well, just try to be nicer to her, after all we're stuck together until we complete this quest."

Nethrys nodded and turned up the television volume, watching the short haired woman talk show host speak with her guests. There was always a roar of laughter coming from the audience in the show. During the next couple of hours all Enryx and Nethrys did was watch reruns of shows on their television while eating. Soon Lysandra joined them, holding a thick book about the size of an encyclopedia.

"Guys, I think we should plan out how we're gonna find Phobos in Phoenix," Lysandra said, scanning through the book.

"We could try Iris-Messaging him," Nethrys suggested.

"That won't work, but we could try."

"Let's call an emergency meeting."

Enryx went over to the telecom attached to the wall and pressed down a button, "Um, hi, everyone, can everyone come over to the den please? Thanks," Enryx released pressure on the button and sat down on the dining table. Soon all the godlings sat around the table. There were maps, notes, research and pictures sprawled across the table, everyone was talking and chattering amongst themselves. Elektra had parked the caravan near a motel at the edge of Phoenix city borders.

"So, uh," Enryx cleared his throat and everyone stopped to look at him, "We're almost at Phoenix, and we should come up with a plan to find -and stop- Phobos."

"I did some research and I found a possible place where Phobos could be," Lysandra announced, slamming an impossibly thick book onto the table surface, making everyone edge back.

"Some?" Adrian commented incredulously, "Some?"

Lysandra silenced him with a hard look and flipped to a page and spun the book around so everyone could see it. On the page was a picture of a barren, rundown shack. The walls looked terribly burnt and seemed as if it was barely holding itself together. The title read 'The Sunflower Mine."

"The Sunflower Mine was destroyed five decades ago in a fire, it was used produce mercury and it yielded large amounts of mercury, gold, silver and copper. I heard some gods wanted to restore it, so that gives Phobos a reason to be hiding out there," Lysandra informed the curious godlings.

"That's a good idea," Trudy remarked. The godlings all looked at the pictures and read a few paragraphs of information about the mines.

"Hold on, I was just researching about Phoenix and there's this urban legend about the Domes of Casa Grande. Apparently it's a dome-shaped abandoned factory -hence the name- It was rumoured that human and animal sacrifices were held there - and reports on use of black magic."

"That's a possibility as well," Rosamynd shrugged.

"We'll have to split up then," Elektra decided.

"Hold on," Vytoni grasped the book she had taken from Lysandra's hands, much to the other Godling's annoyance, "There's a third. Copenhaver Castle - 1970. A tourist attraction. This castle was said to have been abandoned due to a mysterious murder, leading people to believe that the castle is haunted - knowing my luck, it probably is."

"Great," Enryx ran his hand through his hair, gritting his teeth in frustration, "We have three places. Anyways, I'm not sure how long we'll be there so we're gonna go in three groups of three."

"Trudy, you will go with Nethrys and Lysandra." Enryx ordered, pointing at the three. "You will go find the Sunflower Mines,"

The three nodded and stood up from their chairs and began collecting the scraps of paper and pictures of their destination. Lysandra took the book back from Vytoni and muttered the incantations and the page duplicated then flew into her hand. The others looked at her and she raised her hands in defence.

"You know you can just rip the page out of the book?" Enryx remarked.

"But that would be harming the book," Lysandra nagged and Enryx found himself growing impatient.

"Elektra, you will go find the Domes of Casa Grande with Vytoni and Adrian." Enryx commanded. Trudy frowned at the group choice and hugged Adrian.

"So that leaves, you, Katerina and Rosamynd to go look for the Copenhaver Castle," Nethrys spotted, taking pictures of the information onto his small camera he took around with him.

"Correct," Enryx replied.

Everyone went downstairs to their bunks then picked out their weapons and gear. They all got prepared for the mini-quests across Phoenix.

"So everyone rendezvous here in about... three and a half hours?" Enryx asked.

**~END OF CHAPTER 17 ~**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18 ~ Elektra **

Elektra put on a black leather jacket over her aqua blue tank top and hung her quiver of silver arrows over back, tucking her bow inside the quiver as well. She kept a small knife tucked inside her belt and her healing bag attached to the bottom of her quiver. _Just in case. _

"Ready, Vytoni? Adrian?" Elektra asked, packing a small snack in case she got hungry. Adrian nodded and wrapped an arm around Trudy's waist and gave her a slow -and agonizingly long- goodbye kiss. Vytoni strapped her bow staff onto her back, slipping her swords and daggers into their sheaths. Elektra sighed and stretched a little. She had a feeling she would be fighting monsters today.

"So you all know your destinations?" Enryx asked, packing up his arrows and putting on his crimson coloured hoodie and slipping on his green sneakers. Everyone nodded, holding up their phones or maps.

"Trudy, Nethrys and Lysandra, you'll head out to the Sunflower Mines first," Enryx ordered. Elektra was so proud of her brother - he changed from a sad little boy who would cling onto his twin sister. _Well older by a minute or so. _Trudy had pulled away from her long kiss with Adrian and hugged him tight.

"Everyone iris-message if you need any help whatsoever- you got your drachma's, right?-" she didn't wait for them to finish. "Remember to meet back here in three hours and a half," Rosamynd informed the others.

"Stay safe, sugar lips." Adrian said, as he tenderly hugged back.

"I will - you too, _sir_." She said, blowing him a kiss on her way out with Lysandra and Nethrys- which Adrian caught and put in his pocket. Their group went out first, with Lysandra holding her inscripted dagger and Nethrys with his shield and sword- typical son of Enyo, always ready for battle. The remaining six of them were waiting around, making sure they had everything ready for their mini-mission and had the location details.

They waited around fifteen minutes before Elektra's group left for the Domes of Casa Grande. They all said their goodbyes and good lucks on their way out. Vyt led the way, practically running while the others followed briskly, with Adrian at the back, on the lookout for any sign of trouble.

"So how are we getting to Casa Grande?" Adrian asked,

"Cab?" Elektra suggested. They all agreed and called a cab. Adrian got into the front seat alongside the driver and Vytoni and Elektra got into the back. It was a pretty long trip to the Casa Grande but once they were there, they joined the crowd of tourists. They took out their mobile devices to blend in and not look so not-mortal.

"Hello everyone. My name is Lucy. On behalf of Casa Grande Tour Guides. I'd like to welcome you all to the wonderful land called Casa Grande. The bus ride to the Domes will take about fifteen minutes." The tour guide announced. She had platinum blonde hair swept back into a neat gelled ponytail. She had a navy blue business jacket over a loose white tank top and a navy blue skirt, which was all part of the uniform. She held a clipboard in one arm and a handful of brochures in the other. Lucy led the group of tourists onto the big bus that were piling on. Elektra, Vytoni and Adrian sat behind the bus driver on a three seater. There was something sketchy about Lucy, once she had instantly got onto the bus she put on some sunglasses that covered her dark, stormy eyes- almost as if those weren't hers.

"Hey guys, I think there's something up with Lucy," Vytoni glanced suspiciously at the tour guide.

"She seems pretty normal to me." Adrian shrugged, biting on a burger. Elektra turned to look at Adrian.

"How do you manage to _always _have food in your mouth?"

"What?" He shrugged once more, shamelessly finishing his crusty, oily hamburger. It had sesame seeds on the tops, with red, juicy tomato slices and green, crumbly pieces of lettuce between the brown pieces of bread. _Mmh! _Elektra felt her stomach, and heard it growl.

Suddenly, after about a ten minute silence - the only sound coming from the laughter and chatter from the other tourists- Vytoni spoke."Hey- she said the bus ride would take fifteen minutes, we've been on for about thirty minutes."

"And we're not even there yet," Elektra frowned.

"Yeah!" Whined Adrian, putting down his sandwich. "Lucy? _Lucyyy?"_

"Yes?" She said from behind them. Her voice was inhumane, clearly different to how her voice had sounded earlier. But when Elektra turned around, Lucy looked same as she did before- same old uniform, platinum blonde hair.

"Huh? You were there, though. Wait. What? How did you even get here? I'm so confused," Adrian replied, shaking his head, clearly dazed by confusement.

"I am allowed to stand on the bus, little boy, and we had to take a longer route to the Domes, sorry for the inconvenience," Lucy apologized in a monotone voice, rifling through the brochures. Pretty soon they arrived at the Domes though; they got off first before the rest of the tourists and scanned the area. Elektra could see a massive collection of large, abandoned, dome-shaped buildings. There were four structures including three that were long, caterpillar-like structures, and one separate flatter dome that resembled a "flying saucer". It looked like a suitable place to be hiding the god of fear.

"As you can see, these are the Domes of Casa Grande, there were supposed to be three more of these, but they were never built," Lucy announced gesturing to the domes behind her. "Underneath the domes there are passageways and tunnels but there are long destroyed and unable and impossible to find."

"Perfect," Vytoni muttered under her breath. She was right -_this would be a perfect hideaway for a particular Greek god that comes into mind... _

"So can we go in or not?" Adrian shouted out.

"We may go in but only for a short while," Lucy led everyone to the entrance on the Domes. They wandered into the Dome slowly, everyone being cautious even though no one told them to._ I guess it's an instinct. _There were large, empty doorways and holes in the ceilings creating strong acoustics within the buildings.

"Hello!" Adrian yelled into the hollow cave-like Dome. The echoing noise with an intensity that made the place even spookier. The echos and the sounds of wind passing over the holes in the ceiling were one logical reason for the eerie "whispering", Elektra often heard. They walked deeper into the Dome, taking caution wherever they stepped, careful of fallen rocks and pits.

"Please stay close together, we don't want anyone getting lost in here," Lucy said, guiding them through the Domes. They all arrived at a huge empty room.

"The thing that most mostly scares trespassers away from the domes is the dark, shadowy figure said to lurk in the back dome," Lucy started to explain and pointed out the window and to the roof of the back domes. "The phantom is not confined to this dome, either. He also moves from dome to dome, roaming around on top of them, and can sometimes be seen outdoors in the surrounding desert."

The tourists awe-d in amazement while others looked down. Goosebumps instantly rose from Elektra's skin and she shivered, drawing her hood up. The tourists mumbled amongst themselves, speaking in different languages and dialects. She didn't need to be fluent in their language to be able to understand what they were saying.

"In addition to echoes and whispering noises, the many sounds of screaming children have been reported, and footsteps are often heard when no one is moving. Many people have reported tapping noises on their cars while parked outside, and once, one man says that something invisible slammed down onto the hood of his car."

"Our internet research shows that individuals have also seen a figure hanging from a barbed-wire noose, and only seconds after the noose was empty, and when they tap lightly on the outside of a dome only to hear loud banging in reply, coming from the inside." Lucy explained showing everyone around the room.

"I did some research on the internet before I came down here and I saw that apparently one group of girls had a rock thrown over their heads while they stood outside the domes with no one behind them; the rock went over all of them and hit the wall of the dome in front of them." A man in a suit reported to Lucy, "Is this true?"

"Yes, that is true," Lucy clarified, pulling at her blue jacket.

"Then what are we doing here? This wasn't part of our package tour!" A woman shouted out.

"And this play is freaking scary! It's haunted!" A man next to her agreed. _Her husband maybe._ He ripped up his brochure into little pieces and threw it at Lucy. Lucy frowned as the other people within the tourist crowd agreed with the young couple. There was a riot of yelling and complaining at the poor tour guide who tried to calm down the crowd. _I almost feel sorry for her. _The thought cleared when Adrian nudged her and nodded. Elektra understood what they had to do. They slowly crept out of the huge auditorium, making sure no one had spotted them on the way out.

Once they were out of sight from the crowd and Lucy, they all sprinted away from the auditorium-like room and crouched down behind a huge structure -Elektra wasn't sure what it was but it didn't matter right now.

"Okay, I think we know for sure there is some secret within this dome," Vytoni whispered as she gripped her bow staff at the ready. Adrian nodded in agreement.

"Do you think this is Phobos' hiding place?" Elektra asked, her heart was thumping rapidly. She wasn't an adventurist - she was more of the stay at home type of girl. She loved cooking, learning, reading and writing. She wasn't up for all that battling, excitement and thrill. She heard a rush of footsteps heading towards the structure she and her friends were hiding behind. She held her breath, afraid that they were going to get caught. But the footsteps passed their hiding place and disappeared.

They all came out from behind the structure cautiously and sprinted off to the auditorium they had just come from and standing against the graffiti painted wall, they crept along the dome.

"Where are we going?" Adrian whispered into Elektra's ear from behind her.

"No clue," Elektra whispered in reply. They followed behind Vytoni, who was leading the way through the hollow, dark dome. They clambered up a steep staircase at the end of the first dome and walked through a low doorway which they all had to bend over to walk under it. Adrian stood up too quickly and banged his head on the roof of the doorway.

"Elektra, I think it might be time to bring out the healing kit," Adrian whispered rubbing his head.

"I'm sure it's fine," Vytoni interrupted as Elektra was going to agree. Adrian pouted and whimpered as they continued to walk towards to second dome. They roamed around for about an hour, keeping eyes and ears out for possible secret staircases or rooms that might be concealing the God of Fear. However, no luck. They were all out of breath and tired by the time they had reached the last and final dome.

"There's nothing here!" Adrian complained, leaning over trying to catch his breath.

"We just need to look harder," Vytoni persisted, tapping against the dome walls, looking for any possible secret doorways. Elektra nodded and joined Vytoni. Soon a chunk of the wall started to grumble, there were cracks beginning to form on the wall, they all backed away quickly. Elektra quickly notched an arrow into her bow and held it aimed at the crumbling wall at the ready. The rocks crumbled down one by one, revealing a narrow corridor with a low archway. Adrian nudged Vytoni to go forward and through the corridor. Vytoni walked over to the narrow corridor and took lead. Elektra followed behind Vytoni while Adrian followed behind her. The rocks started to float up to their original place to fill up the gap in the wall again. It was pitch black.

"I can't see anything. Where are we going?" Adrian whispered, stepping cautiously forward. Elektra thought of something that could possibly help this situation. Elektra held up a silver arrow into the darkness. Elektra waited a few seconds before the arrow lit up. The arrow shot moonbeams across the dark hollow corridor. Soon the grey empty room shone bright with the arrow as the moon. Vytoni muttered something under her breath, and a dull glow emitted from her palm.

"Whoa, that's so cool," Adrian awed in amazement. Suddenly behind them, the doorway they had come through was beginning to crumble and fall once more. Elektra could only see the silhouette of another person, a girl. The silhouette stepped into the light and the girl turned out to be Lucy, the tour guide.

"Looking for something?" Lucy glared, her hands on her hips. Her straight platinum hair now out loose, her jacket sleeve was ripped and there was a tear down the side of her skirt. The heel on her left shoe was broken and there was a gash on her shin.

"Wh- What happened to you, Lucy?" Adrian asked, his jaw dropped as he looked her up and down.

"Tourists happened, bloody foreign people," Lucy answered without looking away. She snarled, "What are you doing here?"

Lucy edged closer towards us, the doorway fixing itself back up again behind her.

"We -uh- we got lost!" Elektra exclaimed.

"Don't lie to me, girl, I can see that arrow of yours!" Lucy nodded at Elektra's arrow. Vytoni had extinguished her light when Lucy entered. Elektra stared defiantly at their 'tour guide', but her brave demeanour faltered as Lucy looked right into her eyes. Elektra felt paralyzed, and her breath caught as icy dread trickled down her spine.

Lucy thin blonde strands of hair slow turned into living, venomous snakes. Her hands slowly turned a shiny brass gold. She smiled a poisonous smile as her front teeth lengthened into sharp fangs.

"Medusa?" Adrian asked, as he gripped his duel swords.

"I'm Eurayale, her older and wiser sister," Eurayale sneered, "That means, I'm stronger, faster and better than my mortal weakling sister."

"Unfortunately I do not have the lucky power of turning people into stone with one look in the eyes like my sister did, but I can kill you anyways!" Eurayale snarled.

She lunged at Vytoni who was in front of her, which wasn't a good place to be fighting the Euryale since they were lining up one after the other. Elektra released grip on the bowstring and the arrow hit the Euryale on the cheek. The Euryale growled, her strands of snakes hissing at the Godlings. Vytoni aimed for Euryale's windpipe, and hit the head with her bo staff, and the Gorgon's head snapped to the right.

Elektra shot another gleaming arrow into the monster's stomach as Vytoni continued dodging and stabbing at it with a variety of weapons. Adrian was attempting to swipe at the monster from behind Vyt, managing once in awhile to swipe at its face. The Euryale started falling back, edging back towards the door.

The rocks disappeared from the doorway once more; they edged the monster through the auditorium. It was deserted this time, but there was more space to move around. The monster screeched and swiped at the three of them and Elektra backed up and looked around frantically, searching for an exit._ We need to end this battle, fast._ Suddenly, she had a marvellous brainwave as she spotted the crumbling ceiling.

"Adrian!" She called the blonde Godling over. He dodged another blow and stumbled to her, trying to stem a steady trickle of ichor running down his face.

"What!" He sucked in a sharp breath, and Elektra reminded herself to check on his gash in a while.

"I need you and Vyt to distract Euryale for a while."

"What are you going to do?"

Elektra rummaged for the particular arrow she needed, "I," She said grimly, "Am going to bring down the structure - just enough to crush her."

Eyes wide, Adrian nodded to show he understood and sprinted back to a battling Vytoni and Euryale. He rejoined the fight, and Elektra carefully notched the explosive arrow onto her bow. She aimed with caution, wondering whether to shout out a warning Adrian and Vytoni._ They'll be fine;_ she decided grimly, _I only have one shot._ She let her arrow loose, and it exploded when it hit the ceiling, showering derbies everywhere. The rubble crushed Euryale, and she let out an inhuman shriek and slumped onto the ground, unconscious. _She's not going to be unconscious for long; we better get out of here. _Elektra opened her mouth, about to suggest going back, when Vytoni walked to the Gorgon, with a strange expression on her face. Elektra saw Vyt kneel down in front of Euryale, drawing a dagger from her belt.

"Not so tough are you now," Vytoni hissed, as she brought the blade to the monster's head. Elektra saw Adrian start towards Vyt, but Elektra shook her head slightly. Vytoni's dagger sliced one of Euryale's wriggling snakes, and it spat and hissed at Vyt. Euryale shrieked and let loose an array of curse words, and Vytoni surveyed her for a moment, and then plunged the knife into the Gorgon's chest. Euryale let out a bloodcurdling scream and burst into a pile of golden sand.

"You didn't need to do that," Elektra said nervously, as she watched the snake in Vytoni's hand writhe one last time before it turned into a small stone bracelet.

"Spoils of war," Vyt shrugged pocketing the snake/bracelet, "Besides, hundred drachmas on needing this in the future."

"Let's get out of here," Adrian said, still eyeing Vytoni warily, as if the serpent would come bursting out of her pocket and eat them, "It's already three."

~~~END OF CHAPTER 18~~~


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